“All is fair in love, in war and in the duel of the House of Commons [Câmara baixa do Reino Unido] against Boris Johnson, if the Tories’ allegations are true”.
It was with these words that the British tabloid The Mail on Sunday started an article, published on Saturday (23), about anonymous accusations that one of the prime minister’s biggest opponents was crossing and uncrossing her legs, during the opponent’s speeches, to supposed to distract you.
According to a Conservative MP – from the same party as Boris –, whose name was not disclosed by the tabloid, Labor Angela Rayner behaved like the character played by actress Sharon Stone in the 1992 film “Basic Instinct”. of a writer who is the main suspect in a murder, but simultaneously, seduces the investigator of the case.
In one of the scenes, the character, who is not wearing panties, crosses and uncrosses her legs to confuse detectives during an interrogation about the crime.
The comparison, of course, generated outrage in the country. This Monday (24), the country’s press regulator declared that it received 5,500 complaints about the article, accusing it of being sexist and misogynistic. The Independent Press Standards Organization, as the organization is called, also said that it was investigating possible violations of the Editors’ Code of Conduct by the newspaper’s leadership.
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said he would meet with the tabloid’s editor to discuss the article. “I express my sympathy to Angela Rayner. [O artigo] is humiliating and offensive to women in Parliament and only discourages women who might be considering running for office, to the detriment of us all,” she said.
Hours after publication, the parliamentarian posted on her Twitter account a series of comments about the text. Calling the article “gutter journalism”, she attributed the case to the sexism and misogyny that, according to Rayner, women suffer in the British Parliament. “It’s no different with me,” she said.
“Boris Johnson’s cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate and perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his ass. They know exactly what they are doing and the lies they are telling,” he added.
The prime minister, in turn, also commented on the case and, this Monday, in front of the cameras, said that he had immediately contacted the parliamentarian and repudiated the article. Boris also said that the author of the statements will suffer the consequences if discovered.
On Sunday, he had already posted on his Twitter account that “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”. The parliamentarian responded to the prime minister with a “thank you”.
Heated debates between Boris and Rayner during discussions in Parliament are common. She is deputy leader of the Labor Party, the main opponent of the current government and, in the absence of the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, she is responsible for assuming the main chair of the opposition to the premier.
The article does not cite a specific episode in which Rayner tried to “distract” the prime minister, but the last few months have been marked by thorny moments for Boris in Parliament. Last Tuesday (19), he apologized for the parties that his team held in his office, while his own government had stipulated restrictions to contain the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021. The new apology came after he was fined by the London police.
The most recent falling out between Boris and Rayner also took place last week. On Thursday (21), while Parliament was voting on whether the prime minister should be investigated for possibly lying to the House, Rayner accused him of having “mocked the sacrifice” of the British during the pandemic.
“As a healthcare professional, I know the sacrifices they made in the pandemic on the front lines, putting themselves at risk to take care of others. The least they deserve is for the prime minister to be held accountable for his own conduct,” he said.
Before becoming a politician, Rayner worked as a caregiver, where she joined the union and began her public career. The British tabloid, however, preferred to treat the parliamentarian as “a socialist grandmother who left school at 16, pregnant, and without qualifications before becoming a caregiver”.
The attributes, according to the parliamentarian heard by the publication, are at odds with those of the prime minister, seen as a member of the British elite. “She knows she can’t compete with Boris’ Oxford Union debate training, but she has other skills that he doesn’t,” said the Conservative, regarding Rayner’s alleged attempt to seduce his political opponent.
Following the backlash of the case, The Sunday Times reported that three government ministers and two opposition lawmakers face charges of sexual misconduct. They are among the 56 cases referred to the body responsible for receiving this type of complaint in relation to members of Parliament.
