Emotions were running high on The Jeremy Vine Show this morning as callers and panellists discussed the dramatic news stories of yesterday, one of which being the moment Prime Minster Boris Johnson faced leader of the opposition, Sir Kier Starmer in Prime Minister's Questions.
It was the first time the Prime Minster had been forced to answer questions since a video emerged of Downing Street staff laughing and joking about a cheese and wine Christmas Party which is alleged to have taken place last December, during a time when the country was locked down and such gatherings were forbidden.
Appearing via video link as a guest on the show, MP for Ashton under Lyne and the Shadow First Secretary of State, Angela Rayner gave her opinion on the unfolding news story and, as expected, she was less than impressed by the Prime Minister's performance.
She said: "Yesterday was the day that Kier Starmer pushed the Prime Minister, specially in regards to the variant that's in the UK now.
"We were very clear weeks ago that we should have been testing before people came into the country and we've now got this new variant that's spreading across the UK."
She continued: "The government should have been focusing on these issues rather than laughing, having cheese and wine, and flagrantly disregarding the rules that were set because of the medial advice that we had.
"I think the Prime Minster is not fit for office. This Prime Minster doesn't care about the rules and let's just take a moment to say why this matters.
"People lost loved ones. Their loved ones were dying in hospital and they weren't able to visit them or see them at a time when the Prime Minster in his flat, in Number 10, and within the Conservative Headquarters, was having parties, drinking wine and laughing at the public and taking them for fools.
"This man is not a responsible man to be Prime Minister of this country and that's not just me that thinks that.
"The public have seen through the lies, the jokes, the sneering, the completely unacceptable behaviour."
The comments echoed what she said yesterday on Twitter in a tweet that attracted more than 32,000 likes that simply said: "Boris Johnson is not fit to lead us".
Jeremy Vine asked Ms Rayner if she felt Kier Starmer had done enough yesterday to interrogate the Prime Minster saying: "I wonder if Kier Starmer's got his boxing gloves on here and if he needs to go a bit more bare knuckle? Yesterday was the day to say 'this man should not be Prime Minister, he should resign'."
Ms Rayner responded: "Kier Starmer was very clear about what he thinks of the Prime Minister. It's devastating at a time when the country needs a Prime Minister who is going to act in the public interest, he has time and time again acted in his own interest.
"Whether that's the Owen Paterson scandal, the dodgy contracts that were given out, minsters breaking the ministerial code, and now we find they've been having parties and enjoying themselves when the country was following the guidance. The Prime Minster is not fit for government and never has been."
