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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Emily Dugan

‘It’s rife’: female MPs tell of climate of misogyny in Westminster

Angela Rayner MP speaks in the House of Commons
Derogatory comments about Angela Rayner have led female politicians to raise the alarm over ongoing alleged misogyny in the Commons. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AFP/Getty Images

Even as Conservative whips claimed they were hunting down the MP who made anonymous derogatory comments about Angela Rayner this week, one senior Tory minister was already making light of it.

Following the claim that Labour’s deputy leader had been using a “Basic Instinct” ploy to distract Boris Johnson, a male minister was seen making a series of jokes about women crossing and uncrossing their legs suggestively while in one of parliament’s bars. The remarks, witnessed by someone working in Westminster, are the latest sign of a macho culture that it is struggling to shake off.

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