Raab made headlines last month when they came in for Boris Johnson at a “lively” questions from the Prime Minister in the House of Commons where many thought he had winked at Mrs Rayner.
Contrary to reports, the Deputy Prime Minister told Sky News that he was actually winking at Scotland’s shadow secretary Ian Murray, not Rayner.
He said on Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I have to say Angela Rayner is a great asset in all of these… She’s so lively, it’s quite a contrast to Keir [Starmer].
“At PMQ’s you have all these subplots, he balked at me a little bit by Angie’s side. I winked at him. Something was said about Angela Raynor having a leadership match against Keir.
“I think I heard him say, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ Either way, it’s all part of cutting and pushing.”
It was reported that Raab winked at Rayner when he mocked her for train strikes during the fiery clash.
He suggested that Rayner was a “champagne socialist” because he attended opera during the strike.
Raab’s actions were labeled “bizarre”, while Labor MP Toby Perkins tweeted: “I will never miss Dominic Raab’s wink from Angela Rayner’s shipping box. I feel soiled.”
Rayner replied on Twitter: “Imagine how I feel!”
Elsewhere in his chat on SkyNews, the deputy prime minister said Tory leadership candidates asking for tax cuts should explain how they would be paid.
Mr Raab, who supports Rishi Sunak, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “You can’t borrow your way out of an inflation crisis.
“When people suggest that we need to cut back on the NHS at a time when not just Covid, but all the other non-Covid NHS challenges, they need to make it clear where they’re coming from.
“We all want people to have more money in their pockets. But if you cut taxes and inflation robs people of that money because it’s worthless, or if interest rates go up making their mortgage more expensive, it’s frankly a false economy.”