Angela Rayner tore into Rishi Sunak's Tory government at a spiky Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) - saying they had "no ethics, no integrity, and no mandate".
It was a clash of the deputies at PMQs on Wednesday (November 16). The deputy leader of the Labour Party stood in for Sir Keir Starmer and faced Dominic Raab, who deputised for the Prime Minister, who is currently in attendance at the G20 leaders' summit in Bali.
It did not prove an easy session for the deputy PM, who currently faces two complaints about his behaviour in previous roles in government. He will be the subject of an independent inquiry after being accused of bullying and behaving in a rude and demeaning manner while in previous cabinet roles.
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Ms Rayner took aim at Mr Raab over the accusations. She told the Commons: “After days of dodging and denial, this morning the Deputy Prime Minister finally acknowledged formal complaints about his misconduct, but his letter contains no hint of admission or apology.
“This is anti-bullying week. Will he apologise?”
Mr Raab replied by attempting to move the debate back on to economics. He eventually responded: “She asks about the complaints, I received notification this morning, I immediately asked the Prime Minister to set up an independent inquiry into them.
“I’m confident I behaved professionally throughout but of course I will engage thoroughly and look forward to transparently addressing any claims that have been made.”
Not deterred, the Labour deputy leader hit back, delivering a damning indictment of Rishi Sunak's government, calling the man in charge "too weak".
She said: "Mr Speaker, let me get this straight, he has had to demand an investigation into himself because the Prime Minister is too weak to get a grip. A Prime Minister in office for less than a month with a disgraced cabinet minister resigned with his good wishes, the Home Secretary who breached the ministerial code and risked national security still clings on and now the Prime Minister defends his deputy whose behaviour has been described as 'abrasive, controlling and demeaning.
"With junior staff, Mr Speaker, too scared to even enter his office." Ms Rayner added: "The Deputy Prime Minister knows his behaviour was unacceptable, so what's he still doing here?"
Mr Raab said he was “happy to address any specific point she wishes to make” but said that Ms Rayner hadn't put a specific point to him. He added: "If she wishes to do so, and this is her opportunity, I would be very glad to address it.”
Ms Rayner took him up on the offer, saying: "Maybe he just doesn't think there's a problem or maybe he's suggesting that civil servants are liars. Now he's reportedly banned from meeting junior staff without supervision while we await an inquiry that the Prime Minister hasn't even instigated from a watchdog he hasn't even appointed.
"In the Prime Minister's letter, he did not say how and when this would be investigated - or by who."
The Labour deputy then offered her summation of the Sunak government. "No ethics, no integrity, and no mandate, and still no ethics adviser", she told the Commons.
She then asked: "So when will they appoint an independent ethics adviser and drain the swamp?” Mr Raab said such a process was underway, before adding that Ms Rayner had "come to the despatch box with her usual mix of bluster and mudslinging" because Labour "don’t have a plan.”
Labour could point to their 24 point lead in the latest poll as evidence to the contrary.
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