Within hours of Angela Rayner’s resignation departure I wrote: “Thought you’d seen the last of Angela Rayner? Think again.” The deputy PM had quit in disgrace, ridiculed as “three pads” Rayner, accused of dodging a £40,000 stamp duty bill on her plush £800,000 Hove flat.
It was a terrible look for a party that is so keen to hike taxes on everybody else, and for Keir Starmer too, who had gone to the country promising to clean up politics. But that was never going to stop her.
Anyone who thought that was the end of her career didn’t understand Labour. Her supporters inside and outside Westminster have never wavered.
They see her as authentic, northern, working class and plain-spoken. She’s also viewed as having a hotline to the so-called ‘Red Wall’ of disgruntled white working class voters, and can help lure them away from Nigel Farage. And that’s all that matters.
That’s why I warned she’d be back fast. But even I didn’t expect this.
Two weeks ago, she fired her first warning shot, amid talk of a pact with Mayor of Mancester Andy Burnham to take revenge on Starmer by replacing him.
Although I think Rayner can do better than that. Burnham has now shot his bolt, and missed badly. It turns out that he needs Rayner, more than she is likely to need him.
Red Ange skipped Labour’s conference in Liverpool, but her shadow was everywhere.
What surprised me was how brazenly senior Labour Party members are clearing a path for her return.
Health secretary Wes Streeting was glowing as he told delegates: “We need her back”. Energy secretary Ed Miliband went out of his way to praise his “friend Angela Rayner”.
Her replacement as Housing Minister, Steve Reed, called her a “true working-class hero”. Even Starmer hinted she’d be a “major voice again in the Labour movement”.
It was beginning to look calculated. Or maybe they’re just desperate to embrace a figure who for all her failings, has character and a human connection that Starmer, Rachel Reeves and other Labour frontbenchers lack.
Rayner is a divisive figure, some people really can’t stand her, but that could be an advantage too. Her personal backstory is seen as a bridge to working-class voters who still doubt the party’s priorities. Her union roots helped keep the left onside, too. Without her, Starmer is just a middle-class stuffed suit.
But the rush to rehabilitate her is telling. Labour is effectively gambling that voters will forgive a £40,000 tax dodge because of what Rayner represents. That’s not just a risk. It’s an insult to the very people the party claims to speak for.
Most working class people still think it’s right that people pay their taxes. Especially if they’ve got enough money to afford a plush second home.
The timing is tricky. Bring her back too quickly and it looks brazen. Wait too long and her influence could fade. But either way, she will return. The only question is when.
