Women in politics face "extreme misogyny" a former Scottish Labour leader has warned.
Kezia Dugdale spoke out after a Conservative-supporting newspaper claimed Angela Rayner tried to distract Boris Johnson in the Commons by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
Rayner, Labour's deputy leader at Westminster, dismissed the claim "perverted smear".
The report was published in a London-based newspaper on Sunday and was based on a briefing by an anonymous Conservative MP.
Johnson has distanced himself from the story and messaged Rayner to make clear that he views claims about her as misogynistic.
Dugdale, who quit frontline politics in 2019, said the story was "laughable".
“I think this is definitely a particularly egregious example, and the idea that Angela Rayner is defeating Boris Johnson’s Oxford-based debating skills with the power of her legs alone is just a nonsense, and it’s laughable, but it’s an example of the extreme misogyny that women face in politics every single day," she told BBC Radio Scotland.
“You’re just hearing about this particular example because Angela Rayner is senior enough to have power and agency to call it out and demand that there are consequences for what has happened.
“But for a lot of women, they just have to quietly put up with comments like this on a day-by-day basis.
“It’s really, really disappointing and kind of depressing that despite the increased levels of women’s representation we’ve got in politics across the United Kingdom, the culture hasn’t changed anywhere near to the extent that it should have.”
Tory minister Chris Philp today said if the Tory MP responsible for misogynistic comments about Rayner was identified they will face “serious consequences”.
Philp said he expected efforts would be made to find out who spoke to The Mail on Sunday political editor Glen Owen but suggested the chances of success were limited.
“I think that if anyone is identified having views like those that were expressed, which are just outrageous and misogynistic, then I would expect serious consequences to follow,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
“I expect efforts will be made to identify who is responsible for those views. But journalists fiercely guard their sources and I doubt Glen Owen will be volunteering that information.
“I think there is ongoing, active work to make sure anyone holding offensive views, including the misogyny we saw demonstrated over the weekend, is called out and action is taken.”
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