Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Lowenna Waters

What a winker! The best reactions to that Dominic Raab wink

Hadn’t we all agreed sometime around 2001 that winking was no longer a thing? Pretty sure we’d reached an unspoken consensus that winking was at best patronising or, worse, creepy? And, in the hands of the wrong person? Well, you saw what happened yesterday.

Dominic Raab, the man in charge of the country when Boris is having sinus surgery or off on a diplomatic visit to Madrid, winked at his Labour counterpart Angela Rayner during PMQs in the House of Commons. The ick factor was instant, seismic and felt across the nation, with “I feel soiled” and “Guess that’s one way to dry the nation’s vaginas indefinitely” two of the most relatable responses.

Forget the classcist undertones for a second (he was goading Rayner - a working class woman - for going to the opera), and focus, if you can bear it, on the physical act of The Wink (which Raab insists was actually directed at shadow Scotland minister Ian Murray sat next to Rayner). Is there a more covert symbol of entitlement than someone having the gall to casually throw in a mocking wink during a debate in the Commons? It reeks of boys’ club cliquery.

Perhaps it was a moment of madness, but Raab’s wink will haunt us (and probably him) forever.

Here are some of the best reactions…

Women everywhere shuddered

Show a little respect, please Raab

One Twitter user said it was ‘sexism and classism all in one foul swoop’

Toby Perkins MP said he felt ‘soiled’

Another said that they thought the wink proved being a grad of both Oxford and Cambridge didn’t mean anything

The video in ‘sickening slow motion’

The whole thing was pretty ‘shoddy’

Brush up on your opera, Dom!

WHAT A WINKER

That wink was definitely more than ‘just banter’

Totally ‘bizarre’

Sexy rather than sexist?

So, what was the purpose of this wink at a female MP?

The wink that ‘beggars belief’

One said they ‘loved’ the cheeky wink

While another just labelled him a ‘disgusting person’ for the action

Angela Rayner responded to the wink, saying that Raab’s team ‘wouldn’t approve’ but she did in fact attend the opera

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.