Dominic Raab criticized Angela Raynor for attending the Glyndburn Opera Festival, calling it proof that “champagne socialism is returning to the Labor Party.”
Replacing Boris Johnson, the deputy prime minister hit the deputy Labor leader after photos of her appeared in the province of Sussex during the railway strikes last week.
“Where was she when the comrades were on the picket line last Thursday?” Mr Raab asked, adding: “She was at the Glindburn Music Festival sipping champagne.
Mr Raab smiled and winked at his opposite number in the municipal shipping box as the two clashed over tax increases and the government’s crackdown on loud protests.
Ms. Raynor responded by saying that Tory ministers spent one night last week at the banquet table, with hundreds of thousands pushed out by their donors.
She also criticized Mr Raab for relaxing on a deck chair while people fled Afghanistan last summer, a mistake that led to his dismissal as foreign minister.
A spokesman for number 10 later denied criticizing Mr Raab’s attack on a working-class woman, such as Mrs Raynor, who enjoys champagne and opera.
“The prime minister is clear that everyone should be able to enjoy art, culture and the like in the UK,” he said.
While the prime minister was at the NATO summit, Ms. Raynor mocked her deputy for last week’s catastrophic clashes in the midterm elections, which renewed Tories’ calls for a change in the summit.
“The government lost two by-elections in one day, the first in three decades. No wonder the prime minister fled the country and left the honorable member to carry the box, “she said.
“The people of Wakefield and Tiverton voted no confidence. The prime minister is not just losing the room, he is losing their country.
“But instead of showing some humility, he intends to limp by 2030. So, does he think the cabinet will support him for so long?
Mr Raab raised Ms Rayner’s leadership ambitions by saying: “I gently point out to her that we want this prime minister to last much longer than she wants the Labor leader …” before she is cut off.
He claims that the Conservatives still have a “working majority of 75” and that “we are focusing on achieving success for the British people”.
The deputy prime minister added: “We will protect the public from these disastrous railway strikes when we have the scene of Labor joining the picket lines.”
Mr Raab also scoffed at Labor over Keir Starmer, confirming that he had torn Labor’s defeated manifesto for the 2019 election, saying it meant he had “no plan” after two years as leader.
“Tony Blair – he actually has some experience in winning elections – says there’s a hole in Labor’s policy proposal, and he’s enjoying it all along.”
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