Angela Rayner's 'scum' comments 'bring Labour politics into the gutter', says Tory VC

26 September 2021, 19:32 | Updated: 26 September 2021, 19:47

'It just brings Labour politics into the gutter.'

Conservative Party Vice Chair Nickie Aiken tells LBC Angela Rayner's Tory "scum" comments "bring Labour politics into the gutter".

It comes as Ms Rayner reportedly told an audience at the Labour Party conference that the government is made up of "a bunch of scum" that are "homophobic, racist, misogynistic".

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has defended the deputy leader's Tory 'scum' rant saying she was "expressing real emotion" and "deep down humanity".

Ms Aiken told Camilla Tominey: "Angela Rayner's got form on this Camilla. A year ago, she sat in the House of Commons chamber and called my colleague Chris Clarkson 'scum', and has never apologised to him for that.

"Last night we heard what she has allegedly said at a fringe, and this is the deputy leader of the Labour party today, and it just brings politics, in particular Labour politics, into the gutter.

"Nobody wants to see that, Camilla."

Read more: Nandy refuses to defend Rayner after she blasts senior Tories as 'scum'

Camilla then suggested past comments by Boris Johnson have been "equally incendiary" and asked if it was fair for Angela Rayner to say she will "only apologise when he does".

Ms Aiken replied: "Boris Johnson apologised in May this year... He has been very clear that he wrote those as a journalist, not as a Prime Minister.

"Angela Rayner, today, is the deputy leader of the Labour party."

Ms Aiken was referring to a newspaper column in which Boris Johnson described Muslim women who wear the burqa as looking like "letterboxes" and "bank robbers".