Angela Rayner hits back at ‘snob’ Dominic Raab in feisty ‘champagne socialism’ PMQs row

ANGELA Rayner tore into “snob” Dominic Raab after he winked and called her a “champagne socialist” for going to the opera.

Their feisty PMQs clash descended into class war as they traded blows on rail strikes and posh plonk.

Mr Raab – who was standing in while Boris Johnson is away at the Nato summit – taunted his Labour rival over the crippling mass walkouts.

He said she had “flip flopped” in her position on the militant unions, before dropping her the wink across the despatch box.

After the clip went viral, Labour MP Toby Perkins tweeted: “I will never unsee Dominic Raab’s wink from the despatch box at Angela Rayner. I feel soiled.”

She replied: “Imagine how I feel.”

The deputy PM also mocked his opposite number – who grew up in poverty on a council estate in Stockport – for enjoying champagne and opera at Glyndebourne.

He taunted: “She talks about working people. Where was she when the comrades were on the picket line last Thursday?

“Where was she when the Labour frontbench were joining them rather than standing up for the public?

“She was at the Glyndebourne music festival sipping champagne, listening to opera.

“Champagne socialism is back in the Labour Party.”

He was gently slapped down by the PM’s deputy spokesman who said “everybody should be able to enjoy arts and culture and other such things across the UK”.

And Ms Rayner hit back by issuing a statement saying: “My advice to the Deputy Prime Minister is to cut out the snobbery and brush up on his opera.

“The Marriage of Figaro is the story of a working-class woman who gets the better of a privileged but dim-witted villain.

“Judging by his own performance today, Dominic Raab could learn a lesson about opening up the arts to everyone, whatever their background.”