KEIR “son of a toolmaker” Starmer aside, Angela Rayner is the Labour Party’s ultimate working-class hero.
So how DARE the new Deputy PM step out for her first days of duty in snazzy new clothing from a very middle-class outfit Me+Em.
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The retailer is, after all, a staple of Kate Middleton and Co.
She should stick to her lane, and be gracing No 10 in hand-me-downs or/and rags.
Sigh.
Yep, as if this woman, born and raised on a Stockport council estate, hasn’t already faced a professional lifetime of rampant misogyny and bile, now she has come under fire from certain right-wing commentators for daring to wear a mint green power suit costing £550 and a £227 orange dress at the following day’s first Cabinet meeting.
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The depressing reality is that powerful women, especially MPs, really can’t win.
Instead of championing the self-made woman, political commentators looking for a quick like, retweet or reaction, seek to knock.
The former glamour model Leilani Dowding tweeted: “Well that was an utter waste of 550 quid. It looks s***.” (Ah, the sisterhood!)
Perhaps she’d rather the 44-year-old grandmother stroll into Westminster topless.
Her background is one of genuine hardship and she is one of the very few conviction politicians who actually understands some of her voters.
A GB News commentator has now deleted his tweet after he slammed Angela for daring to cast herself as a working-class representative and then wear some pretty clothes, rather than ones made in a Bangladeshi sweatshop.
Me+Em is a living-wage employer, a member of SEDEX (a promoter of ethical and sustainable retail) and the founder is an ambassador of the Prince’s Trust Women Supporting Women initiative.
But still that’s not good enough for some.
Genuine hardship
Isn’t the very point of this new New Labour to help people from impoverished backgrounds get a helping hand and pull themselves out of poverty?
Not stick around on benefits wearing loin cloths, watching someone else’s Netflix account?
With social mobility at its worst for 50 years, aspiration is something we should be championing from the rafters.
And Angela, who left school pregnant at 16 and was raised by an out-of-work father and bipolar mother, is the epitome of this.
No philosophy, politics and economics degree from Oxbridge for her. No bank of mum and dad. No nothing.
Her background is one of genuine hardship and she is one of the very few conviction politicians who actually understands some of her voters.
Last week it emerged she was one of several female MPs targeted by deepfake porn websites.
Yet, in our upside down political world, more fuss is made of a very pleasant mint green suit than this.
Let the woman wear what she wants. And get the job done.
AS if pootling along in Mayor Sadiq Khan’s 20mph London wasn’t bad enough, now cars are going to monitor our driving abilities.
Renault has announced its new models will rate our road performances out of 100. Marks will be deducted if drivers tailgate, speed or display poor lane-keeping.
Now, issues of nannying aside, there’s something slightly sinister about this move. What’s from stopping car firms passing on our scores or, more irritatingly, our speeding, to insurance companies and the Home Office respectively?
As the last thing I need is another three points. I’ll stick to my Mini.
Lily’s toe-tally nailed it
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FAIR play to Lily Allen. The singer/actress/podcaster has stuck two fingers – toes? – up to her nepobaby tag (she’s the daughter of actor Keith Allen) and launched an account on OnlyFans.
One offering subscribers (a snip at £8 a month) an intimate glimpse of her trotters. Apparently sole trading is big business online.
Absolute weirdos, hopefully not Sun readers, love nothing more than seeing photos of women’s feet, and doing God only knows to said images.
A website called Wikifeet rated Lily’s feet five stars so, Lily, spotting a commercial opportunity, is making the most of it. And why shouldn’t she? Judging by the Architectural Digest house tour of the brownstone pad in New York she shares with her husband, Stranger Things actor, David Harbour, she’s not on her uppers.
As a new string to her bow, it’s a niche one. But all power to Ms Allen, and her digits.
‘Pacas poo is TV gem
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THIS Morning boss Martin Frizell most definitely slipped those alpacas some laxatives.
In what has arguably been the most entertaining thing to happen on the show in months, two alpacas, Bob and Dave, s*** themselves in the ITV studios minutes before Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard went live on air.
Never work with children or animals, so the adage goes.
In the case of beleaguered This Morning, work with them more.
Piers show how
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THEY said it would never work.
But in the ultimate sign of the times – and the slow, painful death of traditional TV – Piers Morgan’s YouTube show has just hit three million subscribers.
Five months after going digital only, Piers’ Uncensored format has successfully gone global thanks to interviews with Donald Trump, Cristiano Ronaldo, President Zelensky and, most recently, real life Baby Reindeer stalker (allegedly) Fiona Harvey.
We are all consuming content in new and different ways – and TV bosses need to take note.
Pitts okay for Brad
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BRAD PITT has “gone official” with newish girlfriend Ines de Ramon.
The couple held hands at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.
At 60, Brad, who may or may not have had a face lift, remains one of the planet’s hottest men.
But his girlfriend, at 34, is almost half his age yet barely a word has been uttered about the gap.
It’s safe to say that were the genders reversed, people would be losing their tiny little minds.
ERM, the clue is in the name, guys . . .
Nonetheless, in their infinite woke wisdom, ITV bosses have decided “trigger warnings” are needed on long-running drama Midsomer Murders – you know, famed for its high body count in a lovely, bucolic setting.
ITVX, which is re-running the first 22 series, is slapping on content warnings for viewers, which helpfully point out that “murders being carried out are not of the gentle sort”, and that episodes may contain “violence”.
LOL.
Lads so fragile
SIMON COWELL is on the hunt for a new boyband, the “next One Direction”.
His new Netflix show, The Midas Touch, is currently auditioning wannabes.
The biggest problem he faces is not, as some have mooted, a dearth of UK talent – rather the lack of Gen Z youngsters willing to be publicly criticised.
In our increasingly mollycoddled society, twentysomethings simply won’t put up with even an iota of scrutiny, lest it impacts their fragile mental health.
Poor Simon, the most successful music mogul in British history, faces an uphill battle.
As a colleague pointed out, he’d probably have more joy attempting to reform The Monkees.