Rayner on the spot as BBC's Kay challenges leadership record

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Labour’s Deputy Leader was placed on the spot to explain the party’s historical lack of a female leader as Liz Truss is set to succeed Boris Johnson as the next Prime Minister. Angela Rayner took the opportunity to bash the Tory party for failing to intervene in political crises over the summer as the party’s leadership contest unfolded. Ms Rayner did confess the appointment of a female Prime Minister as “great” but continued on to slam the Conservatives for remaining distracted by “sleaze and scandal.” 

Speaking outside Downing Street ahead of the outgoing Prime Minister’s final address, the BBC’s Jon Kay asked: “As the most prominent female Labour politician, do you look at the Conservative party and say that this is their third female leader – their third female Prime Minister – Labour have never had a permanent female leader. 

“Do you look at this and think where are we in Labour going wrong?”

Ms Rayner launched into a tirade against the Tory leadership, bashing the lack of intervention on “backlog Britain”.

She concluded: “It’s great that we’ve got a woman Prime Minister, but what we really want to see is action to support the people of this country.”

As the Conservative Party is set to introduce a third female Prime Minister to Number 10, the Labour party falls behind, having never selected a permanent female leader.

Dame Margaret Beckett briefly headed the Labour party as acting leader before being swiftly ousted by Tony Blair after he won the leadership election.

Similarly,  Harriet Harman took over the party as acting leader after the resignation of Gordon Brown.

She was replaced by Ed Miliband who was elected in the following leadership contest.

Read more: Priti Patel erupts at Labour MPs in fiery Parliament clash ‘Shut up!’

Speaking ahead of Boris Johnson’s exit speech, Ms Rayner said: “It’s great that all his mates are there to see him off and it’s all buzzing there but the rest of the country isn’t buzzing.

“The rest of the country is looking at backlog Britain. They’re seeing that things are taking longer to get done, the public services are collapsing at the moment. 

“All of the government departments are really struggling at the moment because, quite frankly, the government has done nothing to support them over the summer and over the last couple of years. 

“They have been distracted by sleaze and by scandal.”

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Liz Truss was confirmed as the new Conservative leader on Monday, defeating her opponent Rishi Sunak in the final round of voting among Tory party members.

Ms Rayner tweeted during Ms Truss’s speech to describe the event as: “Painfully awkward and stale.”

Following the announcement, Labour’s Deputy Leader said: “Liz Truss offers more of the same old failed Tory ideas that got us in this mess.”

She called upon the new Prime Minister to back Labour’s proposed energy plans to freeze energy costs by introducing a further windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

Ms Truss is expected to announce an emergency package to address spiralling energy costs within the opening days of her premiership, although the details of her plan have not been confirmed.

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