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Labour was branded the 'true nasty party' last night after Sir Keir Starmer refused to discipline his deputy for describing the Tories as racist 'scum'.
The Labour leader said he would not have used the hate-filled words aimed at the Tories by his deputy and bitter rival Angela Rayner. But he refused to say she should apologise.
In a late-night rant at Labour's annual conference on Saturday, Mrs Rayner said she was 'sick of shouting from the sidelines' at 'a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, absolute pile of... banana republic... Etonian... piece of scum'.
The 41-year-old former care worker doubled down on her claims yesterday, singling out Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and other members of the Cabinet who have 'said appalling things'.
The Labour leader said he would not have used the hate-filled words aimed at the Tories by his deputy and bitter rival Angela Rayner
A defiant Mrs Rayner said her 'post-watershed' comments were designed to put 'fire in the belly' of party activists during a conference reception.
She claimed that her language was the kind 'you would hear very often in northern working-class towns, we even say it jovially to other people, we say 'it's a scummy thing to do' and that to me is my street language'.
And she told Sky News she would not apologise unless the Prime Minister first said sorry for 'comments he has made that are homophobic, racist and misogynistic'.
Sir Keir looked visibly discomfited when quizzed about her remarks during a setpiece TV interview which he had hoped to use to set out his stall as this week's conference got under