Elizabeth Sorrell
The Mail on Sunday received widespread criticism after accusing Angela Rayner of throwing PM Boris Johnson “off his stride” by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
The article quotes claims from anonymous Conservative MPs’ that the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party uses the same “ploy” as Sharon Stone’s character in Basic Instinct to distract the PM in the chamber. The article also implies that Rayner does this to compensate for Johnson’s “Oxford Union debating training” against her “comprehensive school-educated” skills.
As much as I disagree with @AngelaRayner on almost every political issue I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 24, 2022
Since the article’s publication on Saturday, several politicians have spoken out against the article. Both Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer have condemned the Mail on Sunday’s article as “deplorable misogyny”. Sir Starmer tweeted that this rhetoric is “a disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos”. The Mail on Sunday has yet to comment.
Jesus this Angela Rayner at PMQs story is a genuine new low.
A) women sometimes move we are not mannequins
B) if women moving puts off PM maybe don't mention that while also painting him as a great war leader…our enemies will simply employ some women to shimmy.
C) WT actual F— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) April 23, 2022
Furthermore, several female MPs such as Jess Phillips and Dawn Butler also took a stand against the article. The Brent Central MP voiced that this latest article from “the fail on Sunday proves that without a doubt he is not fit to be PM or any kind of leader”. Fellow MP Jess Phillips reiterated similar sentiments to that of her colleague describing the PMQ story as “a genuine new low”.
Boris Johnson’s cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his skin.
They know exactly what they are doing. The lies they are telling.
3/9
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) April 24, 2022
MP Angela Rayner responded to the article not only by confronting the primary subject matter but also by addressing its tone and implications. The Deputy Leader of the Labour party branded the article as an example of “gutter journalism” in “doomed attempts” to redeem Johnson’s reputation amid Partygate scandals. Rayner found that “the implication is clear” in response to the article’s pitting her socio-economic background against that of the Prime Minister’s. Rayner concluded that she hopes that the sentiments of the article “don’t put off a single person like me […] from aspiring to participate in public life”.
Featured image courtesy of Sathyan Photography on Flickr. Image license can be found here. No changes have been made to this image.
