Angela Rayner roars back... and could make trouble for Starmer’s ‘new’ Labour

Riding high after her victory in her council house row, Labour’s deputy leader has now come to the defence of Diane Abbott – and, by doing so, has served notice that she intends to fight her corner in government, says John Rentoul

Angela Rayner told the lunchtime news: ‘I don’t think there’s any reason why Diane Abbott shouldn’t stand as an MP’ (PA)

Anyone who wondered whether Angela Rayner had got her mojo back after being wrongly accused of dodging her taxes now has their answer.

Given the all-clear by the police, the forthright deputy Labour leader today grabbed her metaphorical mojo and swung it menacingly in the direction of Keir Starmer.

There is no other way to interpret Rayner’s dramatic intervention on Diane Abbott’s side in the row that threatens to wreck Starmer’s hitherto obstacle-free path to No 10. Her power has been turbo-charged by her vindication in the council house tax row, and she is not afraid to use it.

Abbott should be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate, she declares.

We know what she means. Abbott is a trailblazer, a socialist, a firebrand. All terms that, coincidentally, might apply to Rayner, too. The deputy Labour leader is, in addition, in a strong position as a forceful and charismatic political operator, ready to take advantage of the unhappiness at all levels of the party over the ruthlessness of the purge of candidates considered to be insufficiently loyal to Keir Starmer.

Rayner doesn’t have to spell it out. Abbott’s case has not been handled well, Rayner told the lunchtime news: “I don’t think there’s any reason why she shouldn’t stand as an MP,” she said.

Everybody can read the code: the “boys” in the leader’s office have gone too far. Abbott, the first Black woman in parliament, must be respected. Labour’s values must be respected. Rayner is going to stand up for women, socialism, justice and party democracy against the cynical machine politicians around Starmer.

Rayner’s interview is a statement of intent that she holds power independently of the leader by virtue of her election by party members. And that she intends to use it now, and in government.

The unashamedly socialist, working-class fighter – being both a single mum and a former union official – Rayner as sidekick to Starmer, the slick lawyer, has often had her role compared to that of a previous deputy Labour leader.

John Prescott, as Tony Blair’s deputy, had similar left-wing roots to Rayner’s, and shared her Northern background and her no-nonsense approach to politics.

It served Blair well. Every time left-wingers accused of him pandering to Middle-English Torydom, he would point to Prescott at his side as evidence that he had not abandoned Labour’s heartlands.

In truth, over time, it appeared to many of Prescott’s allies that he was being used as a fig leaf by Blair.

He was given little clout in cabinet. The big decisions were taken by a close-knit team around Blair, with Prescott often left fuming at his exclusion.

With a growing backlash against what Abbott has claimed is Starmer’s “purge of the left”, the outcome of the political arm-wrestle between Starmer and Rayner could decide the balance of power in a Labour government.

Starmer may secretly have hoped that the row over the sale of Rayner’s former council house and the confusion over her entry in the electoral roll might have damaged her.

She has, in the past, when Starmer’s survival as leader was uncertain, made no secret of her willingness to push him aside and pitch for the top job herself – just as he tried, and failed, to demote her when both he and the party were at a low ebb in 2021.

But she stood her ground and took a hard line, refusing even to disclose her tax and legal advice – and she has been vindicated. The police are taking no further action. They have passed the buck to Stockport Council, which is taking no further action about the sale of her discounted council house, and to HM Revenue and Customs, which – according to a document leaked to the press – is taking no further action about a possible capital gains tax liability on the sale.

What has not killed her has made her immeasurably stronger.

In a Labour Party that may be a Labour government in five weeks’ time, she has planted her standard as a rallying point for those dismayed by the ruthless centralisation of power in the leader’s office, and for those who think the imposition of “Starmtroopers” as Labour candidates against the wishes of local party members has gone too far.

As a clever, creative and courageous politician who has clashed with Starmer before and emerged stronger, she will be a force to be reckoned with in a Labour government. Having had to fight like a tiger for everything she has ever achieved, I would not bet against Ange slamming Keir’s forearm to the table.