‘Rayner pays for something expensive herself and the Times wants to shame her. What a nasty, snobby, shit-stirring rag.’
No sooner had the dust settled on her DJ booth appearance in Ibiza, the deputy prime minister found herself at the centre of yet another media frenzy, this time, over buying a suit for her partner with her own money.
Seeking to paint Rayner as a hypocrite for purchasing an expensive suit for her partner, Sam Tarry, while having previously accepted gifted work attire for herself, Times’ journalist Tom Witherow ran with the headline: ‘Proud socialist Angela Rayner bought boyfriend a suit from royal tailor.’
According to the piece, Rayner bought a suit for Tarry from Redwood & Feller, a bespoke tailor where suits typically cost around £3,000. The article further explained that the suit was a Christmas gift, paid for by Rayner herself, while Tarry bought a separate pair of trousers with his own money. The Times made a point of noting that this purchase was not declared on Tarry’s parliamentary register of interests, though it’s unclear why it would need to be.
The attempt to smear Rayner was met with ridicule, with many questioning why the story was even considered newsworthy. Political commentator Marina Purkiss took to X to ask Witherow: “Did you really just write an article about Angela Rayner buying her boyfriend some clothes with her own money?
Witherow responded by pointing to an old tweet from Rayner in which she had criticised Rishi Sunak for owning a £180 Bluetooth coffee mug, implying that Rayner herself was guilty of enjoying luxury. He argued that Rayner’s criticism of wealthy politicians should make her actions fair game for scrutiny.
But Purkiss won the online exchange with a sharp rebuttal: “You’re right. They shouldn’t have, because it’s irrelevant bollocks intended to distract from bigger issues at play and piss-poor journalism.”
Others shared similar thoughts.
Sarah Murphy slammed the story as “Tory propaganda,” contrasting the attention on Rayner’s spending with the media’s silence on issues like Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi using taxpayer money to heat his stables or Boris Johnson accepting lavish freebies.
“Rayner pays for something expensive herself and the Times wants to shame her. What a nasty, snobby, shit-stirring rag,” she wrote.
Author Otto English sarcastically summarised the absurdity of the criticism, posting: “Absolutely disgusting. How dare people from working class backgrounds wear anything other than rags and hand me downs. Bring back the Sumptuary Laws. Put these peasants in their place.”
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