Labour conference: Angela Rayner won't apologise now for calling Johnson 'scum'

Angela Rayner says she will apologise for calling Boris Johnson "scum" when he retracts past homophobic, racist and misogynistic comments.

Asked if she would be retract the remarks, she told the BBC: "I think Boris Johnson is a racist, homophobic misogynist.

"I think he needs to apologise for comments he has made in the past."

Ms Rayner was reported to have made the remarks at Labour conference reception in Brighton on Saturday evening.

Asked if she would now retract them, she said: "I will apologise when Boris apologises for saying the comments he has made. I will retract that he is scum."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "Angela and I take a different approach and that is not the language I would have used."

Pressed on whether he would asking her to apologise, he said that was a matter for her but added: "I will talk to her later."

Explaining her choice of words to Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Ms Rayner said "scum" was her "street language" for saying it was "appalling" for people to behave in the way she said the prime minister had behaved.

"It's a phrase you would hear very often in northern working class towns. We'd even say it jovially to other people - we say it's a scummy thing to do."

In October last year, Ms Rayner apologised for calling a Conservative MP "scum" in the House of Commons.