I’m sent letters saying ‘Angela, if only you could speak properly’
A GREATER Manchester MP tipped to become next Labour leader has told how people regularly write to her complaining about how she speaks.
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, who was brought up in Stockport , said when she makes radio appearances, listeners often criticise her pronunciation and her accent.
In a wide-ranging interview with the editor of the Guardian at Labour party conference in Liverpool, Ms Rayner also said she struggles to get taken seriously because of her outspoken pride in her working class background.
But when asked whether she felt ‘unusual’ in the House of Commons, the MP for Ashton-Under-Lyne said: “I do and I don’t. You’d be surprised how many politicians have a working class background but they get it beaten out of them.
“Every time I appear on the Today programme I get really nice handwritten letters from lovely people saying ‘Angela, if only you spoke properly...’
“I’m like: come and say that in Manchester.”
Many in Labour believe the party’s next leader will be a woman, with Angela Rayner one of those tipped to eventually replace Jeremy Corbyn. Since being elected in 2015, she has been vocal about the realities of her upbringing, which she described in the interview as ‘feral,’ as well as life on benefits as a single mum after having a child at 16.
But - in response to her critics she said that should not be a barrier to people having ambition.
“There are lots of people who come from my background who unfortunately are never going to be taken seriously if they do the sort of articles I’ve done, if you say you’re proud of being from the background I’m from,” she said.
“People think ‘it’s really nice of you to say that, but you’ll never get the opportunities because people don’t see that as leadership material.’”
Asked if she thought she was leadership material, she said: “Anyone can achieve it if they’re given the opportunity to.”
She added: “I do my best to be true to who I am. I don’t pronounce all my words exactly how they do on the BBC. I am who I am.”