The document, leaked to The Daily Telegraph, gives the clearest suggestion of Cabinet tensions, as unrest in the rank and file grows over benefit cuts and means testing the winter fuel payment.
Nearly all politicians harbour a dream of becoming prime minister, and Angela Rayner is surely no exception.
Imagine Sir Keir Starmer is forced out through some sort of rebellion. Any successor would be a sort of Rishi Sunak figure: flailing to manage a party in chaos and paper over internal divisions.
Hugo Gye is political editor
Chloe Chaplain: ‘Rayner is not to be ignored’
It is no secret that Rayner and Starmer are not natural political allies. It was the party members voting her as deputy leader that forged this unlikely alliance between the two.
Rayner still had to dig in to secure her position as Deputy Prime Minister and use her political leverage to ensure she has the big government departments and projects she wants to prioritise: workers’ rights, housing, local government.
The leaks this week, and the response to them across the party, are a way of showing Starmer that she is not to be ignored.
Describing political ambition, Boris Johnson once said: “All politicians in the end are like crazed wasps in a jam jar, each individually convinced they are going to make it.”
That’s not to say she’s planning to oust Sir Keir Starmer. But interventions like her leaked proposals to jack up taxes on the wealthy will only help burnish her appeal among MPs on Labour’s left-wing and “soft-left”.
Will Hazell is Whitehall correspondent
Vicky Spratt: ‘Others should learn from her and get on with their jobs’
Polling conducted by More in Common recently showed that the policies Rayner is responsible for – workers’ rights, renters’ rights and planning reform – are far more popular than other Labour policies, such as their botched welfare reform announcement or now-cancelled winter fuel payment cut.
Could the problem be that Rayner is doing well? Over the years, “Ange” has been subject to relentless and sneering comments about her class, about being a woman, about daring to exist.
square THE I PAPER TEAM Is today's deal with the EU a victory for Starmer – or a betrayal? The i Paper experts' verdict
Read More
It’s no secret that more right-leaning or centrist members of Starmer’s team don’t like Rayner’s politics. But this is all so deathly boring.
We’re wise to approach politicians with a healthy dose of scepticism. But at the same time, this cynical view of politics and politicians corrodes the public conversation surrounding what goes on in Westminster and, ultimately, public trust in politics.
Does Rayner want to be Labour’s leader eventually? Maybe. But a better question is, why shouldn’t she be?
Vicky Spratt is housing correspondent
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Is Angela Rayner really plotting to become leader of the Labour Party? The i Paper experts’ verdict )
Also on site :