In addition to the threat from Moscow to attack targets in the kingdom, the London government district is currently concerned with the misogyny of male MPs.

A chauvinist statement to Labor politician Angela Rayner was followed by an accusation against a Tory MP of having watched porn in the Chamber, which newspapers are now treating as a "sex scandal".

Even the Prime Minister was forced to intervene because, although the names of the perpetrators are unknown, they appear to be Tories.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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The excitement started with an article in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

There "Tory MPs" were quoted as observing that Rayner attempted to throw Boris Johnson off balance by crossing and uncrossing her legs on the weekly Prime Minister's Questions.

Rayner sits opposite Johnson, in the front row of the Labor Group.

The MPs, the newspaper reported, drew a "impish" parallel to "Sharon Stone's famous scene in Basic Instinct".

In the 1992 film, the actress allows herself to be interrogated in a miniskirt, unsettling the police officers.

"A problem of general culture in the House of Commons"

Rayner contradicted the claim.

She called the article "disgusting".

The outrage forced Johnson to react.

He condemned the "misogyny directed against her (Rayner) anonymously" and promised to unleash the "wrath of the gods" on the man if it became known.

Parliament Speaker Lindsay Hoyle also became active and publicly invited the head of the "Mail".

He wanted to ask him "that we are all a little bit nicer".

The offer was rejected by David Dillon: journalists "should not be given orders from representatives of the House of Commons, however lofty they may be," he wrote.

His newspaper abhors sexism, but journalists should be free to report what MPs tell them.

After that, Westminster would almost have returned to business as usual had not a Conservative reported that she had seen a colleague watching porn in the House of Commons.

After the parliamentary group leadership wanted to take care of the matter and take action, she recommended that the woman on Wednesday call the competent parliamentary complaints committee.

This, in turn, brought Tory women to "the brink of mutiny," as one newspaper put it, just as it was announced that the committee was now investigating 56 allegations.

The suspects are said to include two "shadow ministers" from the Labor Party, which itself has faced sexism allegations since a Welsh MP complained about a Labor politician.

He is said to have described her as her party's "secret weapon" because the women wanted to be friends with her and the men wanted to sleep with her.

(Conservative) Attorney General Suella Braverman summarized on Thursday that some men were behaving "like animals" but recommended "not demonizing all".

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a television interview on Wednesday that the problem has been known for a long time.

"I think that's a general culture problem in the House of Commons," Wallace said.

For decades there had been "behavioural problems" in the house with its long nights of meetings and the bars on the premises.

A culture change is needed, he said.