The editor of The Mail on Sunday has refused to attend a meeting with the Commons Speaker over a controversial report about Angela Rayner. 

Sir Lindsay Hoyle told MPs on Monday he had called for a meeting with David Dillon after the newspaper published claims accusing the Labour deputy leader of "distracting" Boris Johnson with her legs. 

The story, which was widely condemned as sexist by MPs and political figures across parties, quotes unnamed senior Conservatives and accused her of using a "Basic Instinct ploy" to distract the Prime Minister by crossing and uncrossing her legs.

READ MORE: Angela Rayner 'Basic instinct' story was 'steeped in classism'

In his response to the Speaker, published in the Daily Mail, Mr Dillon said he would not be attending as journalists should “not take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however august they may be”.

In his letter, he wrote: “The Mail on Sunday deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms. However, journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations which take place in the House of Commons, however unpalatable some may find them.”

He said that while The Mail on Sunday had “the greatest possible respect both for your office and for Parliament [which] along with a free press they are the foundation stones of British democracy”, the invitation would be declined.

Earlier, in a statement, Sir Lindsay said he wanted to use the meeting to ask that “we are all a little kinder”, issuing a plea to reporters to consider the feelings of MPs and their families when covering stories in Parliament.

He made the point that he had only recently rejected calls to remove the parliamentary pass from another journalist after some MPs called for The Mail on Sunday’s political editor Glen Owen – who wrote the report about Ms Rayner – to have his pass removed.

“I am a staunch believer and protector of press freedom, which is why when an MP asked me to remove the pass of a sketch writer last week for something he had written, I said ‘no’,” he said.

“I firmly believe in the duty of reporters to cover Parliament, but I would also make a plea – nothing more – for the feelings of all MPs and their families to be considered, and the impact on their safety, when articles are written. I would just ask that we are all a little kinder.

“That is what I wanted to talk about at tomorrow’s meeting.”

On Tuesday, Ms Rayner told ITV;s Lorraine programme that she had appealed to the paper to not run the story. 

“When I heard the story was coming out and we rebutted it instantly… like this is disgusting, it’s completely untrue, please don’t run a story like that,” she said.

“All I worry about when I’m at the despatch box is doing a good job and being able to do justice to my constituents and the work I’m doing, so I was just really crestfallen that somebody had said that to a paper and a paper was reporting that.”

Meanwhile, justice secretary Dominic Raab said he thought it was “legitimate” for Sir Lindsay Hoyle to invite the editor of The Mail on Sunday for a meeting following the newspaper’s controversial article about Angela Rayner.

But he said it was the “prerogative” of editors to decide how they would treat such an invitation, after David Dillon refused to attend.

He told Sky News: “I’m not going to second guess the… decisions of editors.”

Pressed on whether the Commons Speaker should have extended the invitation, Mr Raab said: “I think it was a legitimate thing for Lindsay Hoyle to do to invite him and, of course, it’s the prerogative of any editor to decide how they treat that invitation.”

Meanwhile, speaking on BBC's Good Morning Scotland the leader of the Scottish Conservatives said those behind the comments had "no place in politics". 

He said: "If they are brave enough to come forward, they should face the toughest sanctions from the Conservative party.

"They have no place in our party, they have no place in politics."