UK Labour deputy leader calls governing Conservatives 'scum'

Britain's Labour Party Deputy Leader Angela Rayner holds the "Employment Rights Green Paper" during Britain's Labour Party annual conference, in Brighton, Britain September 25, 2021. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

BRIGHTON, England (Reuters) - Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner launched a war of words against Britain's Conservative Party, describing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's cabinet as "scum" for its views and accusing it of abandoning poorer people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Britain's main opposition party, under new leader Keir Starmer, has struggled to make its case since Johnson became prime minister in 2019 having won over many of Labour's traditional supporters in northern and central England.