BORIS Johnson today threatened to unleash “the terrors of the earth” on MPs who accused Angela Rayner of a Basic Instinct plot to flash the PM.
The PM described the comments made about the Labour deputy leader as “sexist, misogynistic tripe”.
The pair had a “friendly exchange” after he reached out to her following the briefing.
In a King Lear reference, he warned: “If we ever find who is responsible for it, I don’t know what we will do, but they will be the terrors of the earth. It’s totally intolerable, that kind of thing.”
It came as a top Tory minister backed a witchhunt into outing the MP in question.
Culture Minister Chris Philp hit out, saying: “I think that if anyone is identified having views like those that were expressed, which are just outrageous and misogynistic, then I would expect serious consequences to follow.
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“I think there is ongoing, active work to make sure anyone holding offensive views, including the misogyny we saw demonstrated over the weekend, is called out and action is taken.”
But he warned journalist that reported the story cannot be expected to out his source.
The Mail on Sunday had received at least 5000 complaints about the story yesterday.
It claimed that when she stands in for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs she tries to throw Mr Johnson “off his stride” by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
The Labour deputy was likened to Sharon Stone’s infamous scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct.
The claims triggered an outpouring of fury by politicians across the party spectrum, including many Tory MPs.
Sir Keir Starmer said today: “It is rank sexism, rank misogyny. She was really disgusted that all of her political attributes were put aside for this ridiculous, offensive story
“She shouldn’t have to put up with it but all women in politics shouldn’t have to put up with it. Almost every woman in politics has had an element of this in some shape or form.
“We have got to change the culture. The culture in Parliament, it is sexist, it is misogynist. We need to change it.”
