Angela Rayner has played her resignation brilliantly, and is compounding the PM’s troubles.
Angela Rayner’s statement should scare Keir Starmer (Image: Parliament Live)
Angela Rayner’s resignation speech in the Commons this afternoon was a political masterclass in manoeuvring and positioning. The ex-deputy Prime Minister’s 10-minute speech was as far away from the sort of scathing bombshell attempt by a jilted ex-minister as is possible to imagine.
This was not Geoffrey Howe accusing Mrs Thatcher of breaking the cricket team’s bats “before the game”, nor was it Sajid Javid telling Boris Johnson “enough is enough”. Instead it was a wholehearted defence of the current Labour government – a move that puts Sir Keir in yet more peril. At Labour conference, we heard multiple Cabinet ministers call on Ms Rayner to make a return to frontline politics, something both she and Labour’s membership base clearly want.
Regardless of what you think of her, I maintain that she was an asset for this government. An authentic working-class voice who spoke like a normal person. Now we’re left with a cohort of generic women in bobs and men who all look and sound suspiciously like the offspring of the Prime Minister himself.
Angela Rayner’s speech shocked me earlier on thanks to the use of two key words: “Socialist values”.
It reminded me of an infamous and hilarious takedown of Tony Blair’s ambitions to be the European Union president by William Hague in 2008.
He quipped to the Commons: “When [Blair] goes off to a major political conference of a centre-right party and simultaneously refers to himself as a socialist, he is on manoeuvres.”
This speech, far from being a wound-licking resignation speech, was Angela Rayner on manoeuvres.
Because while a housing minister dodging housing tax may be hypocritical, her departure has done the opposite for Ms Rayner’s perception among Labour MPs and members.
Rayner clearly had a lot of support among Labour MPs and frontbenchers (Image: Parliament Live)
It’s created the perfect comeback story: a working-class woman who rose to the top of British politics, taken down by the nasty Tories and right-wing media, and now to work diligently until she is brought back into the cabinet as Keir Starmer’s most obvious successor.
Failing that, it is now clear Ms Rayner is still in a clear position to replace Keir Starmer should he be ousted before he is forced to bring her back to the top table in No. 10.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe Ms Rayner showed herself up to be a terrible Cabinet minister during her short time in the job. House building rates fell and Labour is almost certain to miss its election manifesto target; and as for her workers’ rights bill it will cripple small businesses, was written by hardline trade unions and will tie Rachel Reeves’ hands for the rest of this parliament.
But she doesn’t need to appeal to ordinary people or businesses, she needs to appeal to Labour MPs, trade unions and members. With all three of these constituencies, she is now the darling of the left and boosted by no longer being linked to this failing government.
