Labour’s deputy says she hopes to hear from Boris Johnson as the Mail on Sunday defends its story.
Image source, PA Media
Labour’s Angela Rayner says her attempt to “brush aside” misogynistic remarks does not mean she isn’t hurt by them.
She was responding to a new Daily Mail article, which echoed claims by the Sunday paper that the deputy leader would cross and uncross her legs in the Commons to distract Boris Johnson.
The piece pointed to a podcast, saying she had laughed about being compared to Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.
But Ms Rayner said the “sexist slurs” were “mortifying and deeply hurtful”.
She added in a tweet: “As women we sometimes try to brush aside the sexism we face, but that doesn’t make it ok.”
The Labour MP also appeared to challenge Boris Johnson to take action against the Conservative MPs briefing the newspaper, saying she “hoped to hear” what he would do about it during Prime Minister’s Questions.
The row erupted at the weekend when the Mail on Sunday published an article about Ms Rayner.
The paper quoted Tory MPs claiming she tried to put the PM “off his stride” during Prime Minister’s Questions with her legs, comparing her to “a fully-clothed Parliamentary equivalent of Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct”.
There was a backlash against the article, with MPs from across all sides of the House – including Mr Johnson – condemning it as misogynistic.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle invited the Mail on Sunday’s editor, David Dillon, and its political editor to a meeting to discuss the piece, saying he wanted to “make a plea – nothing more – for the feelings of all MPs and their families to be considered, and the impact on their safety, when articles are written”.
Mr Dillon refused the invitation – using the front page of Wednesday’s Daily Mail to announce it.
The paper also claimed three more Tory MPs had said Ms Rayner was “the original source of claims”.
And it pointed to an interview on Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast last January where she laughed about the comparison with Sharon Stone’s character.
But she also said in the recording that she was “mortified” by suggestions on the internet that she was using her body to distract the prime minister, saying: “I don’t need to do that.”
‘Sexist slurs’
Responding to the Mail’s latest piece, Ms Rayner posted a thread on Twitter, saying she had told the podcast “the sexist film parody about me was misogynistic and it still is now”.
She added: “The Mail implies today that I somehow enjoy being subjected to sexist slurs. I don’t. They are mortifying and deeply hurtful.
“‘She loves it really’ is a typical excuse so many women are familiar with. But it can’t be women’s responsibility to call it out every time.”
The deputy Labour leader was contacted by Mr Johnson after the first article was published, and he told reporters it was “sexist tripe”.
Following this second article, Mr Rayner suggested she now wanted him to take action when he appears at PMQs later.
She tweeted: “Boris Johnson gave assurances he would unleash ‘the terrors of the earth’ on the Tory MPs spreading this vile sexism.
“I hope to hear what he’ll be doing about it today.”