Tories Claim Labour's Rayner Uses Basic Instinct-Like Ruse to Put BoJo 'Off His Stride' at PMQs
07:26 GMT 24.04.2022 (Updated: 15:19 GMT 28.05.2023)
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The UK Labour Party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, who occasionally stands in for Sir Keir Starmer in the Commons, has been compared by some Tories to Sharon Stone’s character in the iconic 1992 film “Basic Instinct”.
During her duels in the House of Commons with Boris Johnson, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner likes to put the Tory Prime Minister “off his stride” by employing a mischievous ploy, claim Tory MPs cited by the Daily Mail.
Referencing Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the film “Basic Instinct”, during her heated exchanges with Johnson at the Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) Rayner crosses and uncrosses her legs, suggest the Conservatives.
In the 1992 thriller, Stone played Catherine Tramell, a writer involved in a relationship with a police detective portrayed by Michael Douglas. Stone later claimed she had been tricked in the controversial scene in which she uncrossed her legs while not wearing her underwear, as she was told instead to ditch her panties because of “reflecting the light” and promised her private parts could not be seen on camera.
Indeed, when in the absence of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner takes over, the two politicians’ verbal sparring has since become a Commons highlight.
According to Tory MPs, not only does Rayner resort to a fully-clothed parliamentary equivalent of the “Basic Instinct” stunt when Boris Johnson is at the dispatch box, but employs it when seated next to Starmer when he faces-off with the PM.
“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,” a Tory source was cited as saying.
Rayner, 41, left school at 16 while pregnant, and did not obtain any qualifications. She later studied part-time at Stockport College, worked for Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as a care worker for a number of years, and was later elected as convenor of Unison North West, becoming the union's most senior official in the region.
Honesty and integrity matter.
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) April 22, 2022
This Prime Minister has lost the trust of the public, the confidence of his own MPs and the authority to lead our country.
I was proud to close yesterday’s debate in Parliament. Boris Johnson will now face the consequences of his actions. 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/XIY3qE9xg3
Rayner’s exchanges with Boris Johnson in the Commons have been described by many as even “flirtatious”.
Back in January, Johnson alluded to claims that Rayner was hoping to succeed Starmer, saying: “We all know what job she wants”.
Rayner retaliated with:
“I’ve heard on the grapevine there might be a vacancy for Prime Minister soon, so maybe I should show aspiration”.
In response to the report, a spokesman for Angela Rayner dismissed the claim as “categorically untrue”.
