But, as criticism grew, the prime minister was forced to step in, tweeting that, despite the political divide with Ms Rayner: “I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her today.”
//He made no mention of the sexism having apparently come from his own MPs and it is understood there will be no attempt to establish who was behind the briefing.
It was also pointed out that the culture secretary Nadine Dorries posted an identical tweet, raising questions over whether Mr Johnson had written the words himself.//
The Independent.