Angela Rayner reportedly tried to block Prince Andrew from ever filling in for the King(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)Angela Rayner reportedly called Prince Andrew “that nonce” and tried to block him from ever filling in for the King.
The Deputy PM made the comment in 2022 shortly after King Charles ascended to the throne when many were calling for Prince Andrew to be removed as a counsellor of state, according to a new book.
Ms Rayner was understood to be unwilling to let Andrew take on official duties as a result of his links to paedophile businessman Jeffrey Epstein, which was famously exposed alongside his alleged affair with Virginia Giuffre, who received a settlement from the Duke of York after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 in a civil case.
Prince Andrew has always denied the claims. In 2022, as Rayner fought to have the Duke removed from an official list of deputies if the King was unable to carry out his duties, she reportedly said: “I’m not going to vote to keep that nonce on.
Rayner reportedly made the comments in 2022(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis)“I can’t go back to my constituency and say, ‘Yeah, I support that’.” An official told Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, authors of the new book Get In, which covers Labour’s return to power: “She was very actively reaching out to the Palace, the upper echelons of the civil service.
“And said she thought this was a huge problem, and that the Government needed to address this, and that she would offer cross-party support to make sure it happened.” The book is currently being serialised in The Times.
But what does nonce men and what are its origins? In British slang, the term is used to describe sex offenders, particularly those who have abused children.
The origins of the term has not been confirmed but there is a story that it originated in HMP Wakefield. According to a Channel 5 documentary HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, nonce is an acronym for ‘not on normal courtyard exercise’. The term was written on the the wall outside the cells of sex offenders to indicate they were to be exercised away from the general prison population.
Prince Andrew was pictured with Virginia Giuffre(Image: US District Court – Southern Dis)Sex offenders, including rapists and paedophiles, rank lowest in the prison pecking order and are subject to attacks by other prisoners. For their own protection, they are segregated on a VP (vulnerable prisoner) wing away from other inmates.
The unverified explanation has been doing the rounds for decades but it contradicts a more likely explanation of the word’s origin as found in the Oxford English Dictionary.
The dictionary, which has for more than a century been an authority on etymology, says nonce may derive from the word nance, a derogatory word for an effeminate or gay man. The word, the origin of which is unknown, may alternatively derive from the Lincolnshire dialect word nonse, meaning a good-for-nothing.
So how did the ‘not on normal courtyard exercise’ legend arise? It is most likely a backronym, an acronym formed from a word that already existed.
Jeffrey Epstein died in prison(Image: New York State Sex Offender Regi)Other examples of backronyms include posh which is thought to stand for ‘port over, starboard home’, a reference to the cabins on the cooler side of ocean liners occupied by rich Brits on their way to and from India in the days of the Empire. Posh, more likely, derives from the Persian safed-posh (literally ‘white robes’), a term for wealthy people.
Another (and quite ridiculous) example, is the name of the sports brand Adidas. It’s a contraction of the company’s founder Adolf Dassler but there has been a myth that it stands for “All Day I Dream About Sport”. Nike doesn’t stand for anything either, before you ask.
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