With Burnham blocked, Labour’s attention turns back to Angela Rayner
The political world abhors a vacuum of intrigue and gossip.The scuppering of Andy Burnham’s return to Westminster has therefore brought renewed attention to other potential successors to Keir Starmer.That is in turn likely to involve renewed scrutiny of Angela Rayner.Starmer’s former number two and housing secretary has been quietly loyal since she resigned as a minister nearly five months ago after what she said was the inadvertent underpayment of stamp duty on a flat in Hove.Rayner has resurfaced on occasions to try to nudge policy in areas she views as her legacies, notably by holding ministerial feet to the fire on workers’ rights legislation, and through some lobbying on the just-announced changes to the leasehold system.
It is no secret that she would like a return to cabinet, and equally that Starmer would welcome this – not least because the prime minister has said so publicly more than once.While a slightly unlikely duo, they remain in touch and on good terms, according to senior Downing Street sources, and there is a shared view that they are an effective political team, despite some residual mistrust on Rayner’s side about some of those around the PM.It will, nonetheless, not happen immediately, and for two reasons.The most obvious is that there is currently no vacancy, and after Starmer reshuffled his cabinet so thoroughly in the wake of Rayner’s departure, he is unlikely to create one soon, with the earliest date mooted so far being after May’s Scottish, Welsh and local English elections.There is also the matter of an ongoing investigation into Rayner’s tax underpayment by HMRC, which could result in a fine, a reprimand or no action at all.
None of the outcomes would be expected to block her return, but for now she simply has to wait for the tax authorities to respond – a source of deep frustration for Team Rayner.This is, of course, only one half of the story.Allies of Rayner say that while she has no plans to openly challenge Starmer, if this were to happen or if he stepped down she would definitely compete for the top job.She is understood to be frustrated at repeated reports linking her to being the deputy and left-leaning ideological ballast in a possible leadership bid by someone else, not least because these stories generally portray her as once again being second banana to a man.“Angela says she took the scars for Jeremy Corbyn, she took the scars for Keir Starmer, and so the next time she takes the scars it will be for herself,” one senior Labour figure told the Guardian.
That said, Rayner is also known to be aware that she can be a divisive figure for some voters, and that any leadership bid would be firmly based on the idea of her leading a team, with a key role for a steady, understated chancellor – perhaps someone like John Healey or Pat McFadden,With the bulk of her legislative priorities finishing their route through parliament, Rayner is thinking about what direction she would want to take Labour, with the broad conclusion that there would need to be a change in policy as well as in the person at the top,Curious as it might sound to outsiders, one hiccup sometimes raised in relation to a Rayner candidacy is her partner,He is Sam Tarry, a former Labour MP who was unceremoniously deselected before the last election in a process he views as deeply unfair and orchestrated by Wes Streeting,Such internal Labour divisions run deep and bitter, and some observers worry that Rayner could suffer by association.
For their part, Rayner’s team would prefer that she was granted more privacy – both over her relationship and, especially, her children.In terms of who may back Rayner in a potential contest, she would hope to get support from the recently revived soft-left Tribune caucus, particularly among female MPs.For now, however, the extent of her base remains unknown, and any path to the leadership deeply uncertain.What does seem sure is that if someone like Streeting hoped to engineer a coronation, they would instead have a battle on their hands.
Was Labour right to block Andy Burnham’s return as an MP? | Letters
The argument that it would be too costly to run a mayoral election in Manchester and run the risk of its being won by Reform UK is perfectly valid (‘Huge mistake’: Labour in turmoil as Burnham blocked from byelection race, 25 January). The problem is that that is not how the decision of the Labour party’s national executive committee will be read. And this is now a pattern.Kicking off with the foolhardy acceptance of luxury goodies from Lord Alli, fast followed by the removal of pensioners’ winter fuel payments and going on to a failure to read the runes over the grooming gangs and many other depressing own goals, this government has demonstrated a quite astonishing lack of self-awareness.Keir Starmer is now beginning to resemble, of all unlikely people, Boris Johnson in his seeming inability to grasp how badly some of his decisions – and subsequent reversals – reflect on him
‘It could be a shoe or a stick’: Sajid Javid on being beaten by his father, petty crime – and turning his life around
As a young teenager, Javid and his brother were caught stealing from slot machines, arrested and held in a cell. His future hung in the balance. How did he get from there to the top of UK politics?In 2019, when Sajid Javid was home secretary, he spoke about growing up on “the most dangerous street in Britain” and said how easy it would have been to fall into a life of crime. Fortunately, he said, he managed to avoid trouble. But it turns out that Javid was being a little economical with the truth
Greens launch major push for Gorton and Denton after Burnham blocked
The Greens are set to stage an all-out fight to win the upcoming Gorton and Denton byelection, with officials in the party arguing they have a real chance of victory after Andy Burnham was barred from applying to be the Labour candidate.The Greens came third in the seat in the general election, nearly 14,000 votes behind Andrew Gwynne, the sitting MP who stepped down last week. But they plan to flood the constituency with activists in the hope of persuading locals they are the party more likely to defeat Reform UK.While it is up to the local Greens to decide a candidate, it is expected that they could field Hannah Spencer, leader of the Green group on Trafford council, who stood against Burnham in the 2024 Greater Manchester mayoral election.Defeat to the Greens, or a sufficiently high Green vote to allow a Reform win, would be a major blow to Keir Starmer, as well as significant embarrassment after he moved to ensure Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, could not stand
Tories withdraw ‘mental health’ briefing about Suella Braverman after former Tory home secretary joins Reform – UK politics live
Suella Braverman has defected to Reform UK, the third sitting Conservative MP to join Nigel Farage’s party in little more than a week.Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s decision to block Andy Burnham from standing for parliament, a move which has triggered a major backlash against the prime minister from sections of his own party.Reform UK would slash what it calls “highly dubious” environmental protection measures to help fund a £2bn cut to income tax in Scotland if it won May’s Holyrood elections, the party has said.Jenny Chapman, the development minister, has is drawing up plans to scrap the UK’s aid watchdog, prompting concerns that the government is attempting to escape scrutiny while implementing “brutal” cuts.For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog
Suella makes the ultimate sacrifice as she ditches Tories for Reform | John Crace
That noise? The sound of the barrel getting scraped. Only last summer, Reform insiders were briefing the rightwing media that the party would never welcome Suella Braverman into its ranks. Too much baggage. Too out of control. Reform wasn’t a convalescent home for disgraced and failed Tory MPs
On Labour’s soft left, the question isn’t whether to challenge Starmer, but when
A spectre is haunting the most ambitious politicians in Labour – the question of timing. If you hope one day to become prime minister, you could blink and miss your moment.Andy Burnham clearly believed he did not have much time. But now he might have longer than he thought.Labour’s powerful soft left caucus currently has no candidate who is ready to challenge the prime minister
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