Is Angela Rayner the authentic voice of the common people?

 

If Angela Rayner, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, thinks she's John Prescott in her skirt, then it doesn't bode well for her future.

Like Baron Prescott, Rayner is also deputy leader of the Labour Party and is also seen as the Labour politician who can win back the votes of the 'Red Wall', Tommy Atkins, voters. The former Notts miner, Lee Anderson, plays a similar role in the Conservative Party. But like John Prescott, she's seen as rather embarrassing to many middle-class Labour voters, who mock her northern accent, leopard skin trousers, and bad English grammar.

Rayner says that she didn't go to Eton but grew up on a council estate in Stockport. She was a single mother at 16 and living in a council house, and claims that her mother, who suffered from mental health issues, often fed her dog food, because she couldn't read the label on the tin.

As a working-class MP in Parliament, Rayner is something of a rarity. Most MP's, whether Labour or Tory, are not from a working-class background. Many have never done a proper job in their lives or have any real work experience. However, I doubt that Rayner, in spite of her backstory, can be seen as the authentic voice of the common people.

Most working-class women, if they think about it at all, wouldn't consider a 'trans women', to be a woman. Neither does Rosie Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury. When Duffield said that "only women have a cervix", Rayner called on her to reflect on her views. Rayner has also said that "trans rights" are not in conflict with "women's rights."