They seek her here. They seek her there. But where exactly is Angela Rayner?
We don’t know where Angela Rayner is, but she knows where she wants to be (Image: Getty)
Labour’s former deputy PM should be easy enough to track down. There’s her flame-red hair, for starters. And the fact she’s been reduced from three pads to just two, having lost her grace-and-favour flat in Admiralty House after quitting the Labour front bench.
But Rayner is laying low. Personally, I would too, if I’d suffered the humiliation of being caught dodging a £40,000 stamp duty bill, after repeatedly calling for higher taxes on others. Yet she isn’t hiding out of shame, but strategy. She’s quietly plotting her way back.
Rayner must be missing her fancy Westminster flat. I bet she misses her ministerial salary more, now reduced from £161,409 to £93,904.
She’ll struggle to cover the mortgage on her £800,000 Hove seafront apartment on that. But the real reason for her retreat is to let the public forgive and forget, while her acolytes map her return to frontline politics.
While in power, Rayner commanded attention. Out of office, she’s doing even better. Now she has an air of mystery she lacked before.
It’s pitiful to see how much Labour misses her. At last week’s conference, speakers gave one shout-out to Rayner after another.
They won cheap applause as delegates cheered Reeves to the rafters.
On the left, Rayner has the authenticity Labour’s colourless careerists can only dream of. Everyone in Labour wants a piece of that Red Ange magic. Except one man.
The hush around Rayner is strategic. Every absence, every murmur, every supportive nod from an anonymous ally is part of a rehearsed comeback.
Rayner is laying low, but not sitting still. She’s keeping trusted allies close, testing the waters with sympathetic MPs, consulting her London contacts and union backers.
Rayner is on the move. So are her belongings. On-off boyfriend Sam Tarry has been spotted ferrying her stuff between homes,with taxpayer-funded security guards moonlighting as removals men.
She’s spending money on her flat too. The carpenters are in.
Journalists are analysing what it means. Is the Hove flat her new base of operations? A launchpad for her return? Is she about to launch a TV cookery show? If the press can speculate this much about her home carpentry, imagine the frenzy when she finally steps out in public.
Her re-emergence will be carefully choreographed. There’s talk of a tearful TV Oprah-style interview, where she comes clean and makes a pitch for forgiveness.
Will voters forgive her? I don’t know. But Labour activists already have.
Rayner won’t settle for a token job. Not a junior minister post or token gesture like deputy PM. She wants power. Real power. And that’s bad news for the PM.
The two have never got on. In May 2021, after the Hartlepool by-election disaster, Starmer sacked Rayner from her twin roles as party chair and national campaign coordinator.
Many MPs saw it as a move to sideline a potential rival.
Today, Starmer is the most unpopular PM in history. The party’s left is plotting revenge. A triumphant Rayner comeback would be the perfect reckoning.
And right now, Starmer is so week he can’t do a thing to slow her momentum. Instead, the PM has to pretend he can’t wait for Rayner to return either.
There’s talk of Rayner striking a pact with leadership challenger Mayor of Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, but why would she? She’s box office, he isn’t.
Frankly, Rayner could eat Burnham for breakfast, washed down with a glass or two of rosé.
Health secretary Wes Streeting, home secretary Shabana Mahmood and energy secretary Ed Miliband have ambitions, but lack Rayner’s visceral connection with Labour’s rank and file.
They’ll probably end up begging for a place in her Cabinet.
Rayner wants the top job. We know that because she’s publicly denied it. There’s no surer sign.
For now, she’s waiting. But she isn’t hanging around.
Is she in Hove? Is she in Manchester? Either way, we all know where she’s heading, and Starmer can’t do a thing until she breaks cover.
