Angela Rayner destroys Penny Mordaunt with brutal reply ‘I will not be lectured’
Angela Rayner locked horns with top Tory Penny Mordaunt in a fierce debate this evening but won the round on defence with a knockout blow.
The furious Labour deputy leader told Ms Mordaunt in a bitter TV clash that the Tories had made the UK a “laughing stock” on the world stage. As the Tory frontbencher tried to suggest Labour wouldn’t use nuclear weapons if needed, Ms Rayner shot back: “My brother served in Iraq, I won’t be lectured on whether or not I’m absolutely committed to the security of our country.”
It came after Commons leader Ms Mordaunt, who is tipped as a future Tory leader, questioned whether a Labour Government would support a nuclear deterrent. Ms Rayner told her this isn’t the case – saying Keir Starmer was committed to investing in defence.
She said: “You can keep pointing at me but you are the party that has cut the Armed Forces, crashed the economy and left us in a real mess. Keir has been absolutely clear on that, I am absolutely clear. We will keep our nuclear deterrent and we will invest in it.”
As Ms Mourdant tried to butt in, Ms Rayner told her: “You can tell as many lies as you want but we’ve been absolutely clear on that.” But Ms Mordaunt continued: “If your foe does not believe that you will use these weapons, the deterrent is gone. Well, and that’s the position you are in.”
Hitting out at Labour frontbenchers who have spoken out about the nuclear deterrent, Ms Mordaunt said: “If you are doubting that they would use that force – and she might be Prime Minister in four or five years time – if you are doubting that she or David Lammy or Keir Starmer would use that, imagine what Putin is thinking.”
In a bruising exchange Ms Rayner responded: “We’ve become a laughing stock internationally because of your party. Keir Starmer has changed the Labour Party. We’re very clear on our number one priority.”
It came as Ms Mordaunt said it was “wrong” that Rishi Sunak left the D-Day commemoration in Normandy as she came under fire. The Tory frontbencher, tipped as a future party leader, faced criticism from all during a bitter TV debate. She told a BBC audience: “ What happened was completely wrong and the Prime Minister has rightly apologised for that. Apologise to veterans, but also to all of us because he was representing all of us.”
It came after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Mr Sunak had “deserted” veterans and accused the PM of not being “patriotic”.Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper described her grandfather’s horrific ordeal, branding Mr Sunak’s snub “utterly unforgivable”.
She said: “I started yesterday morning watching a recording made by the Royal Mint of my late grandfather, where he recounts catching his best friend who fell from the top of a Sherman tank. He was shot in the head and as he waded through the water, he recounted, in his words, men blown to pieces, hands, legs and heads.
“If he had been there yesterday, I’d seen the Prime Minister walk away from him. I would have found that completely, as I do now, find it completely and utterly unforgivable.”
Key figures from the UK’s major parties – including Angela Rayner, Penny Mordaunt and Nigel Farage – are taking part in a head-to-head BBC debate. They are joined by Daisy Cooper of the Liberal Democrats, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, Stephen Flynn for the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth.
It comes on a nightmare day for the Tories, which saw Rishi Sunak forced to apologise for disrespecting World War Two veterans after leaving a D-Day commemoration early. And to make matters worse he was heckled on a campaign event in Wiltshire, where GP Dr Jane Millais told him: “The NHS is disintegrating.”
This morning the PM took the unusual step of issuing an apology for his “mistake”, which he repeated in an awkward exchange with broadcasters. Mr Sunak insisted he “stuck to the itinerary that had been set for me as Prime Minister weeks ago” – suggesting he had never intended to go to the centrepiece of the D-Day commemorations, even before he called the election.
“On reflection, that was a mistake and I apologise”, Mr Sunak said, as he urged people not to “politicise this”. He was given a stinging rebuke by Normandy veteran Ken Hay, 98, who said “he lets the country down”.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the snub had “brought shame” to the office of Prime Minister, as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said of Mr Sunak: “He basically is not a patriotic leader of the Conservative Party “.
Keir Starmer, who stayed on in France to mingle with Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, said Mr Sunak “will have to answer for his own actions”, but “for me there was nowhere else I was going to be”.
