To think the Rayner story was started by Tory MPs as another attempt to distract from Partygate?

[cafebean]

I may sound overly cynical but I wouldn't put it past BJ to have urged someone / some MPs to cook up something 'controversial' in the press in order to 'change the narrative.' So this is what the put their heads together and came up with.

AIBU? it's just such a blatantly bizarre headline - even in that paper - you have wonder, "Why now?"

What paper and who cares anyway ?

I’ve been thinking exactly the same.

What do you mean, "What paper?" It's all over the news today - conveniently.

Of course. No bar too low for them.

YA absolutely NBU. Almost certainly another distraction.

I'm even more cynical. Maybe a Labour Party MP or activist, claiming to be a Tory MP, phoned Glen Owen at the MoS and made the allegations with the aim of discrediting Boris and the Tories, and has now followed up by claiming the Tories did this to distract from Partygate.

As it shows the PM in a very poor light - and the comments about their respective debating skills are quite frankly ridiculous - I suspect it's a Tory with an eye on the main job.

That’s exactly what’s happening. The Rayner stuff is an obvious ‘dead cat’. It has done its job very well, as the media are now talking about the dead cat, which Johnson does want them to talk about rather that partygate, which he definitely doesn’t.

I asked about the newspaper as I don't read them, is there something wrong with that ?

I can’t help but think the source is Carrie Johnson.
if you think about how she and Boris got together it isn’t unreasonable to think she might be a bit anxious about women being in Boris’ company.
feels like it was meant as a warning shot to Rayner, saying I know what you are up to, stay away from my man.

I was thinking the same. It's just another chapter in their 'operation red meat' playbook.

You don't need to read newspapers to know which paper this is about. It's been talked about everywhere today.

Definitely a Tory MP responsible but I'm not sure why Boris himself would want this particular type of story to be the distraction so I'm inclined to think he was not involved this time.

i still haven't completely put it out of my head that Johnson could have encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine to distract from partygate.

YANBU I thought the same myself
on a separate matter I'm not understanding why the MoS is getting grief for reporting the awful way male MPs speak about women.
Which I'm certain happens

Yes definitely - and it has worked.

We talk about it instead of the billions wasted on useless PPE from companies owned by their friends, the donations from the wives of Russian former finance ministers and the rest of the outrageous corruption

Journalists do not have to reveal their sources, but editors will always check for legitimacy, for fear of litigation. In order to publish, the source would have been checked.Suspect this is more likely to be a 'dead cat' in the room than a Labour conspiracy

🤣🤣 wouldn't put anything past BJ

I think this story is perhaps my favourite of the last decade. It’s so ridiculously offensive on so many levels that I can’t help laugh my head off.

kudos to whoever came up with it. It’s absolutely laughable, and the writing and sentiment behind the article talking about Boris’ debating genius requiring dirty tactics to compete with is so repugnant it’s brilliant.

Extremely unlikely that a lobby journalist who knows all the MPs personally would fall for a phone call from a Labour MP putting on a fake voice saying "Hello Glenn, it's Binky here, I was just talking to my fellow Tory MPs and we were all saying how unfair it is for that Rayner filly to distract Boris by flashing her legs at him. Yes of course you can print this."

Dead cat tactics are slightly more believable IMO.

@Whatsinaname321 she's deluded, who would want him naked and huffing and puffing on top of you 😆 euwww!

So to distract from the Tories looking bad, the Tory party puts out a story that makes them look bad? I think they need to fire their press secretary!

Yes - op save big dog

This.

100%.

You’re absolutely right.

I do feel a bit sorry for her because Boris is a changed man I believe. You can see he truly loves her when you look in his eyes. They are the eyes of a man who’s found his soulmate. She has nothing to worry about, but I get it. Jealousy makes us irrational.

so who was Rees-Mogg trying to distract / induce to throw up
(& WTF would have been said had a female MP assumed the same pose, in the light of recent comments?)

My money is on Nadine Dorries. She’s loony enough and also she loves Johnson so much she’d act like a spurned lover. Also she’s definitely someone who would be closed to the MoS.