Minister says whips should investigate, as shadow chancellor says female MPs face sexism on daily basis
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Any Conservative MP who made misogynistic claims about Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, may face disciplinary action, a minister has said.
The technology minister Chris Philp said he was “appalled” by a report in the Mail on Sunday about claims by unnamed Tories that Rayner crossed and uncrossed her legs during prime minister’s questions to distract Boris Johnson.
He told Sky News: “Nobody should have to suffer the kind of misogynistic abuse that sentiment amounts to.”
He said he expected government whips would investigate who had made the comments, and that if their identity emerged he would “imagine they would be subject to discipline”.
Asked why Johnson and the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, had posted identical tweets denouncing the claims, Philp said this was “nothing surprising” because they had “reached the same view and they have used the same words”.
