John Berry told the Observer he was “shocked” that the deputy Labor leader had been mocked for attending a performance of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at Glyndebourne near Lewes. “It’s incredibly sad and embarrassing. To be attacked for going to an opera is ridiculous,” he said. Supporting Boris Johnson at PMQs last week, Raab poked fun at Rainer’s absence from the RMT picket line: “She was at Glyndebourne music festival drinking champagne, listening to opera. Champagne socialism is back in the Labor Party.” Reiner then hit back: “My advice to the deputy prime minister is to cut the snobbery and revamp his opera. The Marriage of Figaro is the story of a working-class woman who gets the best of a privileged but dim-witted villain.” Berry was artistic director of ENO from 2005 to 2015, staging award-winning productions including Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly and Mike Leigh’s The Pirates of Penzance. He is now working on a production for Luciano Pavarotti through his new company, Scenario Two. Angela Rayner addresses Dominic Raab during Prime Minister’s Questions on June 29, 2022. Photo: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA He spoke of his frustration that elitist attacks on the arts have been rekindled when opera houses are doing their best to reach new and different audiences: “We produce high-quality work in this country and we shouldn’t be ashamed of that and the politicians should not make it cheap,” he said. “I feel embarrassed that Ms. Rayner should be criticized for going to see an opera by one of the greatest composers, performed by amazing performers. Relying on no public grant, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera provides work to hundreds of independent artists and has an outstanding outreach programme. It is incredibly sad that the word elitism is starting to creep back into the arts in this way. “We don’t have that reaction when an MP goes to Wimbledon or a pop event. Why should we have this when a minister goes to an art event?’ He drew comparisons with European countries, where “it is an honor to hold an important cultural position in government.” “Politicians in Europe want to appear at cultural events,” he said. “When European colleagues observe discussions in the UK about elitism in the arts, they are shocked.”
