Boris Johnson defends Angela Rayner after Tory MP's Basic Instinct jibe

Boris Johnson has defended Angela Rayner and accused an anonymous Conservative MP of “misogyny” over claims that she crosses and uncrosses her legs during prime minister’s questions to distract him.

The Mail on Sunday quoted the Tory MP who compared Labour’s deputy leader to Sharon Stone in the 1992 film Basic Instinct. The MP said: “She knows she can’t compete with Boris’s Oxford Union debating training, but she has other skills, which he lacks. She has admitted as much when enjoying drinks with us on the [Commons] terrace.”

Rayner said the claims were sexist, writing on Twitter: “I stand accused of a ‘ploy’ to ‘distract’ the helpless PM — by being a woman, having legs and wearing clothes. I am conspiring to ‘put him