June 30, 2022, 2:56 p.m. | Updated: June 30, 2022, 3:40 PM

The latest political row between the Conservative and Labor parties concerns… a Mozart opera.

A Mozartian opera storm engulfed Westminster yesterday, where the UK capital has become an unlikely venue for a debate on opera, Mozart and access to the arts.

On June 24, the British newspaper The Telegraph share an exclusivity which featured a picture of UK Labor Party deputy leader Angela Rayner relaxing with a glass of champagne before a performance of Mozart’s opera Figaro’s wedding at the Glyndebourne Festival opera in the Sussex countryside.

Read more: The UK’s best cheap orchestra and opera tickets for young audiences

In his room, The TelegraphAssociate Political Editor Christopher Hope remarked that it was the same day the UK was paralyzed by train strikes called by the RMT union. Rayner, who is proud of her working-class roots, served as a union representative for Unison before being elected to parliament.

And that led Mozart to be drawn into political and cultural conflict across party lines.

Yesterday Rayner faced Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQ), a weekly parliamentary exchange between leaders of Westminster’s two main parties.

Raab enjoyed telling how, as the country grappled with a major strike and a showdown over railway workers’ wages, Rayner chose Mozart’s opera over picket lines.

“She talks about the workers, where was the Right Honorable Lady when the comrades were picketing last Thursday? She was at the Glyndebourne Music Festival sipping champagne [and] listen to opera,” he said during yesterday’s PMQs.

Immediately after the session, Rayner responded to the Deputy Prime Minister’s operatic joke by saying, “My advice to the Deputy Prime Minister is to cut out the snobbery and freshen up his opera.” The Marriage of Figaro is the story of a working-class woman who gets the better of a privileged but dumb villain.

She went on to say, “Judging by his own performance today, Dominic Raab could learn a lesson about opening up the arts to everyone, regardless of background.”

While political commentators rated the Prime Minister’s questions and subsequent statements differently, many on Twitter applauded Rayner’s response – some simply responding with Obama ‘mic drop’ gif.

The political pages are not the usual places for debates on classical music, opera and accessibility. However, many saw it as an opportunity to emphasize that opera is not just for the privileged classes. Composer Howard Goodall added his voice to the conversation, saying “Mozart would have loved to see Angela Rayner there”.

Glyndebourne Festival takes place from May to August each year. 2022 features operas by Mozart alongside Puccini, Donizetti, Ethel Smyth and many more. You can get tickets for just £15. Their very popular membership scheme for under 30s offers £30 tickets for the Festival.

Rayner herself pointed out that her ticket cost £62.

by Mozart Marriage of Figaro is a story of class subversion where a young couple tries to outsmart their aristocratic employer with far-fetched consequences. It premiered in Vienna in May 1786 and has long been considered a piece of cultural satire alongside its beautiful music.

We’re sure Mozart would have been thrilled to know that, 236 years later, his operatic masterpiece was still leading conversions, defying convention and still making waves.