UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the "misogyny" directed at an opposition Labour Party member of the British parliament, following the publication on Sunday of an article relaying the attacks against her.
"As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue, I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today," Johnson commented on Twitter.
According to the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Conservative MPs compare Rayner, deputy head of the Labour Party, to Sharon Stone in the film ‘Basic Instinct’, claiming that she tries to distract the Prime Minister while he is being questioned in Parliament by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
The paper quotes disparaging remarks about Rayner by anonymous MPs, including one who claimed that she "can’t compete with" Johnson’s oratory skills "but she has other skills which he lacks."
The article describes Rayner, who is 41, as a "socialist grandmother" who left school at 16, pregnant and without qualifications, before becoming a social worker, and compares her to Johnson, 57, who went to the elitist Eton College before going on to study at the highly prestigious University of Oxford.
Rayner denounced the "sexism" and "misogyny" directed against her, saying on Twitter that she was proud of her career and hoped the attack "doesn’t put off a single person like me, with a background like mine from aspiring to participate in public life."
She has received many supportive messages, including from members of other political parties, such as Conservative MP Andrea Leadsom, who described the article and the comments it reported as "unacceptable."
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said this was "a reminder of the deep misogyny that women face every day."
