Angela Raynor has revealed that she begged the Mail on Sunday not to release a story alleging that a Conservative MP compared her to the character in “Basic Instinct”, saying that the “classic” comments in the article were contemptuous of working people. class.
The deputy Labor leader said she was horrified by the story she had to explain to her teenage sons.
Recalling when the Ministry of Science first told her she was telling the story, she said she told them, “This is disgusting. This is completely untrue. Please don’t post such a story ях I was with my teenage sons… trying to prepare my children to see things online. They don’t want to see their mother portrayed that way, and I was very desperate. “
Speaking to Lorraine on ITV, she said she decided to wear pants for the interview so as not to be accused of anything else. She added: “I want to be challenging because I don’t think women should be told how to dress, but I didn’t want to distract from the fact that it’s not really about my legs,” she said.
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Raynor said she was horrified that the story could reflect public opinion of her in the box, where she replaced Labor leader Keir Starmer in questions from the mayor’s questions against Boris Johnson.
“I just thought, is this what people expect and think about what I do? The only thing I worry about when I’m in the control room is doing a good job and being able to do justice to my constituents and the work I do. So I was just really shocked. “
She said she was encouraged by the reaction of the public and all political parties. Johnson tweeted condemning the article, which quoted an MP as saying that Raynor could not compete with Johnson’s Oxford Union debate skills.
“I felt really scared of the story coming out, thinking that was what people thought of me,” she said. “In fact, the prevailing answer was that it was awful that they even printed something like that.
Commons spokesman Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who met with Raynor on Monday, called Mail on Sunday editor David Dylan for a meeting. Conservative MP Caroline Knox, chair of the Committee on Women and Equality, wrote to Hoyle asking her to consider canceling the song’s Commons pass, Glen Owen.
Conservative whips say they will try to get to the bottom, which the Tory MP made comments about Raynor.
But Mark Spencer, leader of the House of Commons, said Tuesday that the anonymous Tory MP, who spoke to Mail On Sunday, had acted in an “inappropriate” way, but he did not think they had broken any rules in the house.
He told the Municipal Standards Committee that he believes those who speak to the newspaper violate many principles of public life, including leadership and integrity.
But when asked what specific rule they broke, he said: “I don’t suppose they broke a rule in the house or committed a crime that can be blamed in society. You know, I think they were just being outspoken. And this must be severely condemned. “
Raynor said the song, which mentions her teenage pregnancy and the time she was a caring worker, is “soaked in classicism,” which often discourages women from achieving more in their careers.
“They talk about my origins, because I had a child when I was little, as if I wanted to say that I was indiscriminate, that was the insinuation. It was quite offensive to people of my descent, “she said.
She said she wanted other women of the same background to feel empowered to achieve more. “I don’t want them to think it’s not worth it because they speak with an accent or they had children when they were little, or they may be single parents now.” [mean] “They should be ashamed of who they are,” she said.
“They need to be confident in who they are, and they need to be proud of their background and be able to talk about it. I will never stop talking about mine, because I am proud of where I came from. ”
“A lot of women tell me when they see me, ‘Angie, you inspired me because I see myself in you, you speak the way I speak.’ They see me and see themselves, and that’s the biggest compliment anyone can give me. “
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