Any Conservative MP who makes misogynistic allegations about Labor’s deputy leader Angela Raynor could face disciplinary action, the minister said.
Technology Minister Chris Philip said he was “horrified” by a report in the Mail on Sunday about unnamed Tories allegations that Raynor crossed her legs during Prime Minister’s questions to distract Boris Johnson.
He told Sky News: “No one should tolerate the kind of misogynistic violence that equals mood.”
He said he expected government whips to investigate who made the comments, and that if their identities were revealed, he “would imagine that they would be disciplined.”
Asked why Johnson and Culture Minister Nadine Doris had published tweets condemning the allegations, Philip said it was “not surprising” because they “reached the same point of view and used the same words”.
Sign up for the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am
Johnson is also believed to have written directly to Raynor. The contents of the letter were not shared, except for a quote from the Telegraph, which read: “The comments were not in my name.”
Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves did not insist on identifying those responsible for the allegations and declined to say whether Labor would complain to the Independent Press Standards Organization.
She said the Conservative Party should “talk long and hard with its MPs about what they should say and inform journalists”.
She added that Rayner’s “outrageous” statement “lights the spotlight” on the experiences of other women MPs from sexism and misogyny.
“I’m tired and fed up with the way women MPs and women in parliament are treated, and if this story, this outrageous slander of Angela’s, changes, that would be good,” she said.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Reeves said the slander against Raynor was “something that happens day after day in parliament”. She added that Raynor was a “fantastic politician” who “brilliantly” replaced Keira Starmer when he was not available.
She said: “He does not need to use his gender to win a dispute or postpone the prime minister, or anything that has been suggested in this article. She does it by the force of her argument and to suggest otherwise. It’s just disgusting and it doesn’t do justice to the brilliant women we have in parliament on all sides. “
Add Comment