LONDON — Angela Rayner left the corridors of power under a cloud. On Wednesday, she finally inched out from the shadows.
Keir Starmer’s ex-deputy PM and deputy Labour leader gave a personal statement from the House of Commons backbenches after resigning last month.
In her first public comments, Rayner said she would continue to “bring determination, commitment and my socialist values” to parliament.
Rayner stepped down as the PM’s second in command after failing to pay the correct amount of tax — known as stamp duty — on the purchase of a second property.
In the immediate aftermath of her exit, she retreated from the public eye by skipping Labour’s conference in Liverpool, giving no interviews and posting just two tweets. Her silence after years in the political trenches was notable.
The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne was undoubtedly bruised by quitting such a high-profile role.
“The last few weeks have been incredibly tough on my family with my personal life so much in the public eye,” Rayner admitted. “All of us in public life know all too well the toll of the intense scrutiny we face places on our loved ones.”
Her speech signals a tentative first attempt to influence from the outside — though it could be a hard journey ahead.
“My title may have changed, but the strength and the character of the people of my constituency have not.”
Critical friend
Since entering parliament in 2015, Rayner has virtually only known life on the front benches.
She was appointed shadow education secretary in 2016, following mass resignations from hard-left Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet, where she remained until Starmer took charge in 2020.
“I knew that Angela would make quite an impression in parliament and so she did,” said former Environment Minister Daniel Zeichner, who became an MP at the same time as Rayner.
One former colleague, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Rayner was “a company politician and has literally not had any time away from frontline politics in over nine years.”
“I don’t think anyone would ever accuse her of bending in the wind, whoever the leader was,” said a second former minister.
“People are frightened of Angela Rayner because she’s the genuine politician,” argued one left-wing Labour MP. “She wears her heart on her sleeve. She sees things the way that she sees them. She doesn’t sugarcoat issues.”
Some see an obvious berth for Rayner as a voice on the soft left of the governing party.
Both leadership contenders battling to replace Rayner — Lucy Powell and Bridget Phillipson — have called for the two-child benefit cap, which limits some social security payments for families with more than two kids, to be lifted.
The ex-deputy PM could play an influential role should she choose to join that cause.
“If Angela came to the fore, she would bring that support from other members of the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] who perhaps would be wavering,” the MP above said. “That would be extremely, extremely important.”
“I’m really looking forward to hearing what she has to say with her new voice,” said MP Rachael Maskell, who was suspended from Labour over her own rebellion on welfare reform. “Where our paths cross, she’ll be a huge asset,” Maskell said.
Rayner has spoken movingly about her son’s lifelong disabilities and juggling a blended family.
“If there is one good thing that can come out of this, I hope that other families in this situation may now be aware of that and avoid getting into the position that I am now in,” said Rayner.
“You need to have stability for your kids and maintain all parental relationships,” said another Labour MP about balancing politics with familial responsibilities. “It’s a bloody nightmare!”
Labour looks set to reform support for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. Rayner’s personal experience could help make her a leading voice, should she choose to step forward.
Long walk back
The first former colleague quoted above said it was likely to have been a “really difficult” transition for Rayner to move to the backbenches, but that the former deputy had been able to “see what she had missed — family, friends — and savor that for a while.”
Some hope Rayner’s dramatic exit won’t overshadow her abilities for long. Her working-class background was seen as a rare antidote in Labour’s ranks to Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK, which consistently leads the government in the opinion polls.
“She’s got a very good common touch which cuts through to people,” said Zeichner, arguing her “life story is clearly of interest way beyond the normal political discourse.”
He added, “I would be surprised if she doesn’t find her way back to the top of politics.”
The left-wing Labour MP quoted above concurred, calling her “too popular just to basically wither away on the vine.”
The second former minister quoted above suggested Rayner could be a good corrective to “one small clique … running the whole show” at the top of government — and said many MP colleagues would still like to see her as party leader at some point in the future.
However, that consensus was not universal. Rayner “made a big mistake which she ought to have avoided,” decried a second left-wing Labour MP. “She needs to be out of the front line for the foreseeable future.”
Ultimately, there’s no guarantee a top-table return will happen, regardless of Rayner’s ambition. Tory MP Andrew Mitchell endured a decade in the wilderness between resigning as chief whip in 2012 and making a comeback in a senior Foreign Office job in 2022.
“It’s true that in politics you should never say never about almost anything,” he reflected. “Always remember that the two irreducible qualities required for success are boundless energy and a skin as thick as a rhinoceros!”
“Backbench or frontbench, elected office is not about us, but about our chance to change the lives of others,” Rayner concluded. “From wherever I sit on these benches, I will fight with everything I have to do exactly that.”
Esther Webber contributed to this report.
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