Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK
The head of a Labour-affiliated union has called for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer, warning that Starmer risks leading the party into a heavy election defeat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), told the Guardian she wanted the former deputy prime minister to take charge after this month’s Gorton and Denton byelection.Eslamdoust is the first union leader to call openly for Rayner to oust Starmer, adding to pressure on the prime minister at the end of his most difficult week in office.She said: “I think it’s time that the Labour party had a woman leader.The Tories have had three women prime ministers and four leaders and we’ve had none.
I think Angela Rayner is a credible figure.I think some women MPs are making a lot of noise around there needs to be a woman deputy, but if they’re serious about that, they need to put their money where their mouth is and support Angela Rayner.”She said she felt Labour was likely to lose the Gorton and Denton byelection later this month and that Starmer should step down as a result.“It’s not as simple as one dodgy appointment,” she said, referring to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador last year.“It’s a series of poor political judgments.
We’re in a period of economic and geopolitical instability with a prime minister that has exercised cumulative poor political judgment, so trust in him is completely gone.”A spokesperson for Rayner said: “There is no contest and no vacancy.Angela has been clear Labour must come together, avoid distraction and work as a team to deliver for the public.”Starmer has attempted to restore unity in his fractured party after a week in which he has lost his chief of staff, his communications director and been denounced by the Labour leader in Scotland.He managed to secure the backing of the cabinet on Monday afternoon after Anas Sarwar, who wants to become Scottish first minister at May’s elections, said he had no confidence in the prime minister.
Officials in Downing Street feared Sarwar’s comments could prompt a widespread coup attempt but were relieved when every key Labour figure in Westminster – including Rayner – publicised their support for the prime minister.Many in the party still believe, however, that Starmer is likely to face a leadership challenge before long, potentially after the byelection or the local elections in May.Several allies of Wes Streeting said this week that they expected the health secretary to challenge the prime minister in the aftermath of the local elections if not before.Streeting has denied he is planning to do this.Rayner, meanwhile, put further pressure on Starmer on Thursday to reduce taxes on the hospitality industry.
“Customers just aren’t there in the way they used to be as business rates remain punishingly high, energy bills soar and costs in your supply chains and VAT bite,” she told an event in Liverpool.“We need to recognise that hospitality and nightlife require extended support – not handouts.”Eslamdoust originally called for Starmer to step down on Monday, becoming one of two Labour-affiliated general secretaries to advocate publicly for a change in leadership, alongside Steve Wright, the head of the Fire Brigades Union.There are 11 unions affiliated with the party in total, of which the TSSA, which donated about £30,000 to the party last year, is one of the smallest.Eslamdoust, who once advised the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said she wanted Rayner to take the party to the left, including with stronger protections for workers rights and nationalisations in the rail, water and energy industries.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Keir Starmer is one of only four Labour leaders ever to have won a general election,He has a clear five-year mandate from the British people to deliver change and that is what he will do,”Eslamdoust’s backing of Rayner kickstarts what is likely to be a struggle between her and Streeting to secure more union backing,While Rayner has won the support of many union leaders with her employment rights agenda, she has also angered Unite, one of the biggest unions in the country, with her opposition to the Birmingham bin strikes,
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European markets are subdued this morning – the FTSE 100 is now down very slightly by 0.01%, and the pan-continental Europe Stoxx 600 index is down by 0.34%. That loss is being led by the basic materials sector, which is down 1.43%
Shares in trucking and logistics firms plunge after AI freight tool launch
Shares in trucking and logistics companies have plunged as the sector became the latest to be targeted by investors fearful that new artificial intelligence tools could slash demand.A new tool launched by Algorhythm Holdings, a former maker of in-car karaoke systems turned AI company with a market capitalisation of just $6m (£4.4m), sparked a sell-off on Thursday that made the logistics industry the latest victim of AI jitters that have already rocked listed companies operating in the software and real estate sectors.The announcement about the performance capability of Algorhythm’s SemiCab platform, which it claimed was helping customers scale freight volumes by 300% to 400% without having to increase headcount, sparked an almost 30% surge in the company’s share price on Thursday.However, the impact of the announcement sent the Russell 3000 Trucking Index – which tracks shares in the US trucking sector – down 6
Anthropic raises $30bn in latest round, valuing Claude bot maker at $380bn
Anthropic, the US AI startup behind the Claude chatbot, has raised $30bn (£22bn) in a funding round that more than doubled its valuation to $380bn.The company’s previous funding round in September achieved a value of $183bn, with further improvements in the technology since then spurring even greater investor interest.The fundraising was announced amid a series of stock market moves against industries that face disruption from the latest models, including software, trucking and logistics, wealth management and commercial property services.The funding round, led by the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and the hedge fund Coatue Management, is among the largest private fundraising deals on record.“Anthropic is the clear category leader in enterprise AI,” said Choo Yong Cheen, the chief investment officer of private equity at GIC
How to deal with the “Claude crash”: Relx should keep buying back shares, then buy more | Nils Pratley
As the FTSE 100 index bobs along close to all-time highs, it is easy to miss the quiet share price crash in one corner of the market. It’s got a name – the “Claude crash”, referencing the plug-in legal products added by the AI firm Anthropic to its Claude Cowork office assistant.This launch, or so you would think from the panicked stock market reaction in the past few weeks, marks the moment when the AI revolution rips chunks out of some of the UK’s biggest public companies – those in the dull but successful “data” game, including Relx, the London Stock Exchange Group, Experian, Sage and Informa.Relx, the former Reed Elsevier, whose brands include the Lancet and LexisNexis, is the most intriguing in that list. The company’s description of itself contains at least five words to provoke a yawn – “a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers” – but the pre-Claude share price was a thing of wonder
Winter Olympics 2026: Klæbo seals golden treble; Italy’s Passler to compete despite positive test – live
Klaebo is now the joint most decorated Winter Olympian in history! And there are three more chances of gold to come, in the men’s relay, men’s team sprint and 50k marathon.France’s Mathis wins silver, and Einar Hedegart bronze. Britain’s Andrew Musgrave finishes a fantastic sixth, bare arms and all.Men’s ice hockey: A couple of games are underway on the rink. Finland are 2-0 up against their Scandi rivals Sweden, while it’s 0-0 between Italy and Slovakia
Olympic chiefs have got it badly wrong over Heraskevych ban and owe him an apology | Lizzy Yarnold
I’m deeply saddened by the IOC banning skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Winter Olympics. His helmet depicting images of athletes and children who died in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some who he knew personally, was a human display of remembrance. The IOC’s response was not an appropriate one.One only needed to look at the image of Heraskevych’s father when he was told the news of his son’s disqualification – doubled over with his head in his hands – to know the emotional toll. I cannot imagine what they are experiencing but, as both a former athlete and a just a fan watching on, I also feel emotional about it and cried when both Vlad and his dad messaged me on social media to say thank you for my messages of support
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