Watch: Reactions as Rayner calls on Raab to return to the House and correct the record after misleading PMQs claim

Angela Rayner has called on Dominic Raab to return to the House and correct the record following a misleading claim made during PMQs this week.

The deputy prime minister told MPs it is “sheer nonsense” to suggest that Boris Johnson had asked anyone in the security services to revise, reconsider or withdraw their assessment of Lord Lebedev during the Wednesday session.

He said: “Can I say to (Ms Rayner) what she suggests is nonsense. She’s talking about the House of Lords Appointments Commission. They have a vetting process. I have never overruled intelligence advice and I wouldn’t comment on the details of it.”

Rayner

Earlier, Rayner had told the Commons: “There are now widespread reports that the Prime Minister did not accept warnings from our own intelligence services, granting a Russian oligarch, the son and business partner of a KGB spy, a seat here in this Parliament.

“It shouldn’t matter if such a warning was about a close personal friend of the Prime Minister. It shouldn’t matter if he gave the Prime Minister thousands of pounds of gifts. And it shouldn’t matter how much champagne and caviar he serves.

“There is no ifs or buts when it comes to the safety of the British people. So I ask the Deputy Prime Minister, can he guarantee that the Prime Minister never asked anyone to urge the security services to revise, reconsider or withdraw their assessment of Lord Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia?”

As well as dubbing the comments “sheer nonsense”, Rayner was also criticised for her “tone” after the session, which many have seen as blatant sexism.

Lee Rowley(Tory MP) – Angela Rayner's tone was really wrong at #PMQs

Alison McGovern(Labour MP) – Labour women, at the despatch box, are constantly told, by government ministers , to mind their tone… we just need it to stop#PoliticsLive pic.twitter.com/w1LRAMiVJF

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) March 16, 2022

Dominic Cummings

Now the prime minister’s former aide, Dominic Cummings, said he was in the room when Mr Johnson was told by Cabinet Office officials that the “intelligence services and other parts of the deep state” had “serious reservations” about the PM’s plan to appoint the media mogul to the Lords.

After Cummings’ comments, Rayner then returned to the House to say that Johnson’s ex-advisor knew about the accusations and a ‘deal had been cut’ to water down the report into the Russian billionaire.

She demanded that Raab correct the record.

Watch

Angela Rayner calls on Dominic Raab, to return to the House, to correct the record after misleading it at #PMQs pic.twitter.com/Ful4dPADKS

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) March 16, 2022

Reactions

1.

What a complete sham the @HouseofCommons is. A waste of time and money. So another corrupt Tory @DominicRaab blatantly lies again and nothing happens? What is the point?

— #ILovetoBoogie (@trexfan2) March 16, 2022

2.

https://twitter.com/CliffSutton10/status/1504141577530318852

3.

That's what I thought. I was furious at the deputy speaker's response. What is the point of these speakers and the point of Parliament if nobody gets held to account for lying! 😡😡

— Day 17 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇺🇦 (@Day17_Anne) March 16, 2022

4.

What is the point of @CommonsSpeaker ? Sounds like she's basically saying its up to the Tories whether or not Raab corrects his……..errrr……….misleading of Parliament @CommonsLiaison https://t.co/jFSwRTHfVY

— Jonathon Bright 🇺🇦 (@jb_1969) March 17, 2022

5.

What a wet response from the speaker. Something needs to change, you can't have ministers misleading the house without having to publicly correct their mistakes. https://t.co/T9oCP7j6W4

— dennis (@commonsenseden) March 17, 2022

Related: PMQs – ‘Tell me, what first attracted the PM to billionaire oligarchs?’