Labour outrage on Rayner row is just political manoeuvring
Labour’s outrage over your article last week reporting claims that Deputy Leader Angela Rayner likes to distract Boris Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs during Prime Minister’s Questions can now be seen for what it is: political manoeuvring.
A number of Conservative MPs have since come forward to say they heard Rayner laughing about the idea she could put Johnson off by acting like a clothed version of Sharon Stone in the 1992 film Basic Instinct. Laughter in January and outrage in April. Did someone say there’s an Election looming?
A. Smith, Croydon
We were watching PMQs when I said to my husband that Ms Rayner reminded me of Kenny Everett’s leg-crossing chat-show host Cupid Stunt, a character invented long before Basic
Instinct was screened.
My husband responded: ‘It’s all done in the best possible taste!’
I think The Mail on Sunday was correct to run the article on allegations made about Rayner.
Carol Jackson, Essex
How welcome to notice after ‘Sharon Stonegate’ that there was nothing on display at PMQs this week. The message must have hit home. Most viewers want to hear the proceedings of the day and not be bombarded with the whimsical fashion choices of female MPs.
Many of them can be seen tapping frantically on their phones in tops so low it leaves little to the imagination. A dress code in the Commons is long overdue before male Members start turning up in their holiday shorts and Hawaiian shirts.
Pip Carroll, Reading
A few weeks ago I was at a meeting where a male speaker was constantly crossing and uncrossing his legs. I said nothing but it was quite distracting. If a lady had commented about this, would there have been a similar reaction to the furore over the Angela Rayner story?
Rev Geoffrey Squire, Devon
I totally support The Mail on Sunday’s Editor on his stance on free speech, but what I don’t understand is why the newspaper even bothered to print such a non-story about Angela Rayner. How is such tittle-tattle in the public interest?
Mary Wiedman, Hertfordshire
I had to smile when reading the claims made about Angela Rayner. My message to the PM is: Keep your eye on the ball, even if Ms Rayner is a sight for sore eyes and wants to step into your boots. I’m sure she gave Sharon Stone a run for her money for all the readers who saw the lovely picture of her.
D. Courtney, Weston-super-Mare
The way Angela Rayner speaks about other people, and the way she dresses as if she is in the Costa del Sol rather than Parliament, is inappropriate. Unfortunately, there are many in Labour and other parties too who are just as bad and have no place representing the public.
Peter Clist, Eastbourne
Well done to The Mail on Sunday for rejecting Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s summons. Although I do not necessarily agree with all of Glen Owen’s article, I do agree that journalists should decide what to report.
Free speech is important, especially these days when so much is being ‘cancelled’.
Bill Court, London
Angela Rayner said it was categorically untrue that she tried to distract Boris Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her stockinged legs. That makes her a denier of the fact. (20 denier, probably, as Boris couldn’t help but notice.)
Vincent Hefter, Richmond
I was very dismayed to read the article by Glen Owen in last week’s Mail on Sunday. Angela Rayner is a woman who has made great strides in her life. It is classism by an anonymous Conservative MP to state that she is not up to debating speed because she did not study at the University of Oxford. I think she does very well deputising at PMQs and is sharp-witted, politically savvy and knows where to land the blows.