A Conservative MP has defended Angela Rayner after the deputy Labour leader was accused of deploying a “Basic Instinct ploy to distract Boris Johnson” in parliament. The Mail on Sunday story, which has drawn 5,000 complaints, prompted the Speaker to summon the newspaper’s editor and sparked widespread condemnation of sexism in politics.
Writing in the Guardian, Gaby Hinsliff noted: “This is probably going to shock a lot of people, but Angela Rayner has legs. What’s more… sometimes you can see them.” The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said he would unleash “the terrors of the earth” on the anonymous source once identified.
Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, said the incident was “utterly hideous” but unsurprising. She recounted her own experience with the Mail on Sunday, which used an eight-year-old photo showing her hold-ups. “It was just so belittling,” she said. Nokes also described how she now wears trousers for media appearances and remains conscious of her posture in the Commons.
The story is the latest in a long history of misogynistic treatment of female MPs, including the so-called ‘Legs-it’ incident and the ‘great cleavage divide’. Nokes said the Commons benches are uncomfortable, adding: “I’m always extremely conscious of how I’m sitting… because of all this.”
