Angela Rayner hits back at 'sexist' and 'misogynistic' comments against her in Sunday newspaper

Ms Rayner hit back after reports in a Sunday newspaper article accused her of trying to distract Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions by “crossing and uncrossing her legs”.

The piece in the Mail on Sunday cited anonymous Conservative MPs including one who suggested “she knows she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training”.

Responding this morning, Ms Rayner said: “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.”

She added: “I won’t be letting their vile lies deter me.

“Their attempts to harass and intimidate me will fail.

“I’ve been open about how I’ve had to struggle to get where I am today.

“I’m proud of my background, I’m proud of who I am and where I’m from - but it’s taken time.

The Prime Minister condemned the comments in the original newspaper article.

He tweeted this morning: “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.”