Dominic Raab has said he was not winking at Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Raab made headlines last month when the stepped in for Boris Johnson at a “lively” Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons where many thought he had winked at Ms Rayner.
Contrary to reports, the Deputy PM told Sky News he was actually winking at shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray - not Rayner.
He said on Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I’ve got to say Angela Rayner is great value in all of these... She’s so lively, it is quite a contrast with Keir [Starmer].
“At PMQs you have all these sub-plots, he was sort of braying at me by Angie’s side. I was winking at him. It was something said about Angela Raynor standing a leadership contest against Keir.
“I think I heard him say, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ Anyway, it’s all part of the cut and thrust.”
'Who were you winking at?' - @SophyRidgeSky@DominicRaab says the infamous wink was directed at Labour's Ian Murray in #PMQs a few weeks ago, not Angela Rayner... #Ridge: https://t.co/ZoMhCmTrtv
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday & The Take (@RidgeOnSunday) July 17, 2022
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/c41NvTG69k
It was reported Raab winked at Rayner as he mocked her over train strikes during the fiery clash.
He suggested Rayner was a “champagne socialist” for attending opera during the walkout.
Raab’s actions were labelled “bizarre” while Labour MP Toby Perkins tweeted: “I will never unsee Dominic Raab’s wink from the despatch box at Angela Rayner. I feel soiled.”
Rayner replied on Twitter: “Imagine how I feel!”
Elsewhere in his chat on SkyNews, the Deputy Prime Minister said Tory leadership candidates calling for tax cuts need to explain how they would be paid for.
Mr Raab, who is backing Rishi Sunak, told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “You can’t borrow your way out of an inflation crisis.
“If people are suggesting we should make cuts to the NHS at a time not just of Covid, but all the other non-Covid NHS challenges, they have got to spell out where they are coming from.
“We want to all leave people with more money in their pocket. But if you cut taxes and inflation robs people of that money because it is worthless or sees interest rates go up so their mortgage is more expensive, then frankly it is a false economy.”
