Angela Rayner calls accusations she distracted PM with her legs ‘sexist’ and ‘steeped in classism’

Angela Rayner has said the Mail on Sunday article accusing her of using her looks to distract the Prime Minister is ‘sexist’ and ‘steeped in classism’. 

Labour’s deputy leader appeared on ITV’s Lorraine this morning to discuss the controversial article, which accused her of deliberately distracting Boris Johnson during PMQs by crossing and uncrossing her legs in a Basic Instinct-like manner.

Speaking to host Lorraine, Rayner – who grew up in Stockport – described constantly having to ‘prove my worth’ as a female in politics, adding that the article ‘wasn’t just about me as a woman’ but was also ‘steeped in classism and about where I come from, where I grew up’.

She said: “It wasn’t just about me as a woman, saying I was using the fact I was a woman against the Prime Minister.

“Which I think is quite condescending to the Prime Minister as well it shows you what his MPs think about his behaviour.

“But it was also steeped in classism as well and about where I come from and how I grew up – that I must be thick and I must be stupid because I went to a comprehensive school.

Read More: Angela Rayner responds to critics who slammed her Stockport accent

“Then they talk about my background because I had a child when I was young, as if to say I’m promiscuous, that was the insinuation, which I felt was quite offensive to people from my background.”

Rayner added that she was ‘crestfallen’ when she found out about the article, saying she felt ‘really sad’ for her teenage sons.

She explained: “I was trying to prepare my children for seeing things online that they don’t want to see their mum portrayed that way.

“I felt really down about that, but I was overwhelmed by people’s response because I just thought ‘Is that what people expect and think about what I do?'”

She also admitted to purposely wearing trousers for her interview this morning, before calling for a ‘culture change’ in parliament.  

In the article, Rayner was compared to Sharon Stone in the 1992 film Basic Instinct, with an MP being quoted as saying: “She knows she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills, which he lacks. She has admitted as much when enjoying drinks with us on the [Commons] terrace.”

Reacting to the article over the weekend, Boris Johnson posted on social media: “As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today.”

Also condemning the article, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “The sexism and misogyny peddled by the Tories is a disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos.”

He added: “We have got to change the culture. The culture in parliament, it is sexist, it is misogynist. We need to change it.”