Boris Johnson has forced to condemn “misogyny” among his own MPs, after an angry backlash against claims that Angela Rayner deliberately distracts him by uncrossing her legs in the Commons.
The prime minister is embroiled in a damaging sexism row after “anonymous” Conservative MPs alleged tactics similar to Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct.
Ms Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, accused Mr Johnson of being behind what she called the “desperate, perverted smears” which also targeted her working-class background, she protested.
“It is the PM who is dragging the Conservative Party into the sewer – and the anonymous Tory MPs doing his bidding are complicit,” she tweeted.
The Conservatives first tried to brush off the controversy, Oliver Dowden, the party chair, dismissing the story in The Mail on Sunday as “totally ludicrous”.
But, as criticism grew, the prime minister was forced to step in, tweeting that, despite the political divide with Ms Rayner: “I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her today.”
He made no mention of the sexism having apparently come from his own MPs and it is understood there will be no attempt to establish who was behind the briefing.
It was also pointed out that the culture secretary Nadine Dorries posted an identical tweet, raising questions over whether Mr Johnson had written the words himself.
The story claimed that Tories MPs accuse Ms Rayner of using her feminine charms both when she stands in for Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions and when she sits alongside him.
“She has admitted as much when enjoying drinks with us on the [Commons] terrace,” one MP was quoted saying.
Ms Rayner was also said to know “she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills which he lacks”.
In response, Labour’s deputy leader tweeted: “Women in politics face sexism and misogyny every day – and I’m no different.”
She added: “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 worker, my family, my class, my background. The implication is clear.”
In response to the prime minister’s post, Ms Rayner added: “Thank you.” Labour suggested it had no plans to ask for an inquiry into who briefed the allegation.
But Keir Starmer said the sexism displayed by those who spoke to the Sunday paper was a “disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos”.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, was among other senior Tories who spoke out, tweeting: “If an MP or MPs really said this then it’s utterly shameful. No woman in politics should have to put up with this.”
