UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other politicians have condemned a suggestion made in a newspaper that opposition deputy leader Angela Rayner tries to distract Johnson in the House of Commons by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
The Mail on Sunday reported a number of unnamed Conservative MPs claim Labour's deputy leader Rayner attempts to put the Prime Minister "off his stride".
The claims have been condemned as "categorically untrue" by the deputy leader, who also hit out at "perverted smears".
"Boris Johnson's cheerleaders have resorted to spreading desperate, perverted smears in their doomed attempts to save his skin. They know exactly what they are doing. The lies they are telling," Rayner said in a lengthy thread on Twitter.
Prime Minister Johnson intervened on Twitter, calling out the "misogyny" directed at Rayner.
"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."
Rayner thanked Johnson for his comments.
She said the attempts to "harass and intimidate" her will fail.
"I won't be letting their vile lies deter me. Their attempts to harass and intimate me will fail."
Rayner's boss and leader of the Labour party Sir Keir Starmer also condemned the comments.
"The sexism and misogyny peddled by the Tories is a disgraceful new low from a party mired in scandal and chaos."
But it's not only the comments that have been chastised - MPs condemned the tone of the newspaper's reporting too, including Rayner.
"The latest dose of gutter journalism courtesy of @MoS_politics (The Mail on Sunday)," Rayner said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been contacted by an MP asking if the political editor who wrote the piece should have a press pass for Parliament.
