Oliver Dowden has MPs in stitches with brutal swipe at Angela Rayner's second home
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner tried addressing her ongoing housing row from the off, but the Deputy Prime Minister came back at PMQs with a cutting gag
PMQ's: Deputy PM jokes about Angela Rayner's second home row
Angela Rayner was torn apart at PMQs today as deputy PM Oliver Dowden couldn't resist laying into her over the ongoing housing row.
Ms Rayner tried spiking his inevitable jokes and attacks by raising her second homes row first, opening by saying: "I know the party opposite is desperate to talk about my living arrangements, but the public want to know what this government is going to do about theirs".
After asking a question about housebuilding, Mr Dowden launched a broadside at the Labour deputy.
He joked: "It is a pleasure to have another exchange with the Rt Hon lady in this house!"
"Our fifth in 12 months. Any more of these and she'll be claiming it as her principal residence!"
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The swipe at Ms Rayner, the first of many this lunchtime, sparked delight and laughter from Tory MPs, who have been looking forward to the sparring match ever since it emerged Mr Sunak would be unable to attend due to his trip to Germany.
Ms Rayner was filmed fake laughing, while shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves sat stoney-faced.
In another swipe, Mr Dowden took aim at Ms Rayner’s plan to abolish anti-union legislation, which he claimed would “sweep away the reforms that made this country great”.
He quipped: “We all know the one Margaret Thatcher reform that the Rt Hon Lady would not abolish: the right to buy your council house!”
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Ms Rayner got her own back with a joke taking aim at the Tories’ recent scandal around MP Mark Menzies.
She fired back: “I was expecting better from him today - he must be a bit worn out, maybe it’s the 3am calls from the ‘bad men’ that have been keeping him up at night!”
Ms Rayner did land one punch, however, when she attacked the Tories for still refusing to call an election.
She told MPs: “I read with interest that the Rt Hon Gentleman has been urging his neighbour in No10 to call an election because he’s worried they might get wiped out”.
“Has he finally realised that when he stabbed Boris Johnson in the back to get his mate into No10 he was ditching their biggest election winner for a pint-sized loser?”
Mr Dowden argued that Labour hasn’t yet backed the Tories’ plan to hit 2.5% of GDP on defence spending and back our armed forces.
“As always, the deputy leader is looking to attack others’ failures, but never the one to take responsibility for her own.
“She once said: ‘you shouldn’t be waiting for the police to bang on your door. If you did it then you shouldn’t be doing your job’.
“The Rt Hon landlady should forget her tax advice and follow her own advice!”
