A new Tory minister has caused anger after repeating a discredited slur against Labour's Angela Rayner.
The party's deputy leader was at the centre of a newspaper article in April that quoted Conservative MPs who said Ms Rayner tried to put Boris Johnson off in Parliament.
The Mail on Sunday article quoted claims she distracted Mr Johnson at PMQs by crossing and uncrossing her legs like in the film Basic Instinct.
It also claimed the comprehensive-educated former care worker and grandmother, 42, did so because she couldn’t compete with the Old Etonian PM’s Oxford debating skills.
At the time, Mr Johnson described the story as "the most appalling load of sexist, misogynist tripe".
But now, newly-appointed Levelling Up minister and Grimsby MP Lia Nici has repeated claims made against Ms Rayner that she "opened her legs" to distract the PM.
She made the lurid comments during an interview on the BBC Politics North programme aired today while in discussion with Labour Bradford West MP Naz Shah.
"Let's just be honest here. We talk about honesty and integrity," said Ms Nici.
"The deputy shadow leader decided it would be amusing to open her legs in the chamber and then brag to everybody that actually it was male members of the opposite party who had been looking at her and she was drinking on the terrace and laughing about it."
Ms Shah immediately responded and described the minister's comments as "absolutely disgraceful".
"I don't know what's more disappointing Lia," Ms Shah retorted.
"Listening to a fellow woman talk about another woman opening her legs in Parliament using that kind of misogynistic language, or the whataboutery to actually try and take it away from the failure of this government not just now, but for the last 12 years of austerity."
After hearing the crass comment, Ms Rayner jumped to Twitter to thank her colleague for standing up for her and said the Tory MP should be "ashamed" for repeating the slur.
"Boris Johnson promised to unleash 'the terrors of the earth' on the Tory MPs spreading these vile smears," she wrote.
"Instead he promoted them to ministerial office. They really are unfit to govern. Thank you @NazShahBfd for calling @lia_nici out on this.
"She should be ashamed of herself."
After the initial newspaper piece in April, the story triggered a wave of condemnation over sexism and snobbery from across the political spectrum.
Ms Rayner herself said she was left “fearful” and “really down” when tipped off, worrying about what her teenage sons would think.
She appeared on ITV's Lorraine the next day wearing trousers in an attempt to avoid being "judged" further.
“It’s not about my legs,” she said.
“I didn’t want people at home thinking ‘let’s have a look to see what her legs are like and how short her skirt is or not’.”
Ms Rayner said she already has to battle to be heard because she did not go to Eton and is not a suit-wearing man.
She went on: “It wasn’t just about me as a woman, saying I was using the fact I was a woman against the Prime Minister.
“Which I think is quite condescending to the Prime Minister as well it shows you what his MPs think about his behaviour.
“But it was also steeped in classism as well and about where I come from and how I grew up - that I must be thick and I must be stupid because I went to a comprehensive school.
“Then they talk about my background because I had a child when I was young, as if to say I’m promiscuous, that was the insinuation, which I felt was quite offensive to people from my background.”
