Angela Rayner hits back at 'vile lies' that she uses 'ploy' to distract Boris Johnson during PMQs

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner has hit back at 'vile lies' from Conservative MPs who claim in a widely-criticised article that she crosses and uncrosses her legs in PMQs in order to distract the Prime Minister. The Mail On Sunday's politics editor Glen Owen reports that Tory MPs liken the Greater Manchester MP's 'ploy' to Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct.

The extraordinary newspaper story, which has been condemned online for blatant sexism, claims Ms Rayner 'likes to put Mr Johnson off his stride’ in the Commons chamber when they clash at Prime Minister’s Questions. An anonymous MP is quoted, who suggests Ms Rayner 'can't compete' with Boris Johnson's Oxford Union debate training, adding: "but she has other skills which he lacks."

References to the 42-year-old's working-class background and comprehensive education are made, to which Ms Rayner says she is 'proud of'. She responded to the 'desperate, perverted smears' with a nine-tweet thread, where she addresses everyday sexism as a woman in politics.

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The Ashton-Under-Lyne MP wrote: "Women in politics face sexism and misogyny every day - and I’m no different. I stand accused of a “ploy” to “distract” the helpless PM - by being a woman, having legs and wearing clothes. I am conspiring to “put him off his stride”.

"The rest I won’t repeat - but you get the picture. 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.

"The potted biography is given - my comprehensive education, my experience as a care