Angela Rayner Lashes Out Against BoJo & His 'Cheerleaders' Over 'Basic Instinct Ploy' Allegations
19:04 GMT 24.04.2022 (Updated: 15:19 GMT 28.05.2023)
© AP Photo / Alastair Grant
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In one of her tweets, Rayner argued that Johnson is “dragging the Conservative Party into the sewer”, and that “the anonymous Tory MPs doing his bidding are complicit”.
UK Labour Party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has sharply criticised a claim made in a recent article published in Mail on Sunday, which alleged that she sought to distract Prime Minister Boris Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs – a ploy akin to that perpetrated by Sharon Stone’s character in the 1992 erotic thriller "Basic Instinct".
Addressing this matter in a series of tweets, Rayner complained that she essentially stands “accused of a ‘ploy’ to ‘distract’ the helpless PM - by being a woman, having legs and wearing clothes”.
"Boris Johnson’s cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his skin", she wrote. "They know exactly what they are doing. The lies they are telling".
She had a few words to say about Johnson himself as well, arguing that the prime minister is the one who is "dragging the Conservative Party into the sewer", and that "the anonymous Tory MPs doing his bidding are complicit."
"He and his cheerleaders clearly have a big problem with women in public life," Rayner added.
She also offered thanks to those who sent her "messages of solidarity and support", saying that those people are "making a stand in the name of decency - against those who would further coarsen, cheapen and debase our politics to benefit their own interests."
One of the people whose attention Rayner’s speech on Twitter attracted was Labour Party leader Keir Starmer who stated that "the sexism and misogyny peddled by the Tories is a disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos".
Well said @AngelaRayner.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 24, 2022
The sexism and misogyny peddled by the Tories is a disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos. https://t.co/ZqaEACUEiQ
And Boris Johnson himself tweeted that, much as he disagrees with Rayner “on almost every political issue”, he respects her as a parliamentarian and deplores “the misogyny directed at her anonymously today”.
Thank you https://t.co/puxtY2jTDP
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) April 24, 2022
“Thank you”, Rayner wrote in response.
