Angela Rayner is winning the internet with her takedowns of the new Tory government

Angela Rayner
Fréa Lockley


Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner is currently winning the internet. Her takedowns of Boris Johnson’s new government are witty, astute and exactly what the country needs right now.

A real education

Shortly after Boris Johnson appointed disgraced MP Gavin Williamson as education minister, Rayner stepped in. With three years of experience under her belt, the shadow minister welcomed Williamson to his new post and said:

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But she didn’t stop there. In May, Theresa May fired Williamson as defence secretary. He was accused of leaking information after a meeting between ministers and the National Security Council.

Although Williamson denied the charges, one awkward fact did stand out. In 2018, Williamson claimed Jeremy Corbyn “cannot be trusted”. He also accused him of a “betrayal of this country” after the Sun alleged Corbyn had met and ‘briefed’ a Czech spy in 1968. These claims later turned out to be ungrounded.

So Rayner stepped in once again to offer him some very useful advice, saying:

Far cleverer than Cleverly

On 25 July, Boris Johnson’s new government held its first session in parliament. Thinking he was being clever, the newly promoted Conservative Party chair James Cleverly took a pop at Labour:

But quick as a flash, Rayner came right back at him:

As Ken Loach previously told The Canary:

there’s no one so misnamed as Cleverly. ‘Clever’ isn’t the word that comes to mind when you read what he says.

And Cleverly’s original tweet pretty much sums this up. It comes to something that our MPs are communicating in emojis. But if this is the game Tory MPs want to play, then skilled politicians like Rayner will be ready and waiting to win the internet too.

These are truly worrying times in UK politics, but Angela Rayner’s swift and canny takedowns are a ray of much-needed light in the darkness.

Featured image via Rwendland/Wikimedia

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