As Sir Keir Starmer continues to face pressure over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as the US ambassador, rumours are swirling that Angela Rayner is hoping to challenge him.
Rayner took a backseat after stepping down as Labour deputy leader following the stamp duty controversy last year.
She became Sir Keir Starmer’s second in command when Labour beat the Tories in the landslide election victory in 2024.
But it all came crumbling down in September last year after she admitted underpaying stamp duty tax on her £800,000 seaside flat in Hove after receiving ‘incorrect’ legal advice, leading to her resignation.
She has stayed away from the limelight since, even skipping her party’s conference in Liverpool as she is thought to have focused on her family after the tax scandal.
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What has Angela Rayner said about challenging Starmer?
Sir Keir revealed on Wednesday that he knew that Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein continued after the American financier was convicted of child sex offences when Mandelson was appointed last year, sparking backlash from within Labour and outside the party.
The Prime Minister’s leadership is said to be balancing on a knife-edge over the scandal, with names of potential contenders, including Rayner and Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, being floated.
While Rayner has not directly addressed the rumours that she is ‘ready’ to launch a leadership campaign, her team has denied the claims.
Her spokesperson said: ‘We don’t recognise these claims.’
What else is there to know about Angela Rayner? We take a look below.
Who is Angela Rayner?
Angela Rayner has been the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester since 2015 and identifies as a socialist on the soft-left of the party.
Born and raised on a council estate in Stockport in extreme deprivation, she left school at the age of 16 pregnant, without any qualifications.
She became a child carer before junior school for her mum, who had bipolar disorder and a developmental disability and who couldn’t read or write, according to British Vogue.
Following some time at a local further education college, she trained in social care and later became a social worker providing one-on-one care to elderly people in their homes.
She was put forward by her workmates to speak for them as a union rep for Unison and at the same time joined the Labour party.
Rayner soon rose through the ranks of the trade union movement and became the most senior elected official of Unison in the north west of England.
In 2015, she became the first woman MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in its 100-year history.
Under former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, she went on to hold the position of shadow pensions minister, before becoming a member of the shadow cabinet as shadow education secretary.
She was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party in March 2020 and also held roles of shadow deputy prime minister and shadow levelling up secretary before Labour won the 2024 general election.
How many children does Angela Rayner have and how old are they?
Rayner married Mark Rayner in 2010, but the pair separated in 2020.
She had her first son called Ryan at the age of 16 with her then-boyfriend, Neil Batty, who was 19.
She has two other sons with her former husband Mark Rayner, Charlie, who was born prematurely, and Jimmy.
She became a grandma at the age of 37 when her first child, Ryan, had a baby daughter.
A colleague reportedly affectionately dubbed her ‘Grangela.’
Her youngest, Jimmy and Charlie, are now in their teens, while Ryan is 27.
The media started reporting that Rayner was in a relationship with Labour MP Sam Tarry, but she said they split up in 2023.
Who is Angela Rayner’s son, Charlie?
In an interview with Rayner last year, the Guardian reported that Charlie Rayner was born at 23 weeks prematurely, weighing just 465g, and he is epileptic and registered blind.
Rayner has previously spoken about the struggles the parents of disabled children face, telling Vogue she knows what it is like to ‘having to fight the system constantly.’
Underpaying stamp duty
The deputy PM admitted she underpaid stamp duty on her seaside flat in Hove, saying the ‘mistake’ was due to incorrect advice from her lawyers, a claim her lawyers denied.
Reports claim she might have saved up to £40,000 on stamp duty on the Hove apartment. But because it is classed as a second home, it would have been liable for the higher stamp duty rate rather than the standard rate for first homes.
She said the mistake came after she moved her share of ownership of the family home in Ashton into a trust to manage a payment to her son, Charlie, and her children as beneficiaries to ensure their ‘long-term security.’
Rayner said she was told this move meant the Ashton home was no longer considered as her first home, and she could list the Hove flat as her only dwelling, the Guardian reports.
She referred herself to the Prime Minister’s ethics advisor and has instructed a tax advisor to work out the tax she needs to pay.
Rayner said she ‘deeply’ regrets the ‘error that has been made.’
She said in a statement: ‘The arrangements I have set out reflect the reality that family life is rarely straightforward, particularly when dealing with disability, divorce and the complexities of ensuring your children’s long-term security. Every decision I have made has been guided by what I believe to be in my children’s best interests.’
Why did Angela Rayner resign?
Rayner stepped down shortly after the ethics watchdog, Sir Laurie Magnus, concluded that she breached the ministerial code.
In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Rayner said the situation and scrutiny over her family has become ‘unbearable,’ which is why she has decided to step down.
Sir Laurie, the ethics watchdog, found that Rayner did breach the ministerial code and she failed to pay the correct amount of stamp duty.
‘It is deeply regrettable that the specific tax advice was not sought,’ he said in a statement.
Sir Laurie added that Rayner ‘acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service.’
The Prime Minister said in his letter to Rayner in response to the resignation that he is ‘very sad’ that her time in government has ‘ended in this way.’
He said it was right for her to refer herself to the independent watchdog.
Sir Keir continued: ‘Although I believe you have reached the right decision, it is a decision which I know is very painful for you.’
Labour’s political opponents used Rayner’s resignation to pile more pressure on Keir Starmer.
Kemi Badenoch, who urged Sir Keir to sack her after the error first emerged, said after the announcement: ‘Angela Rayner is finally gone. But it’s only because of Keir Starmer’s weakness that she wasn’t sacked three days ago. Britain deserves better.’
David Bull, the chairman of Reform UK, fanned the flames over the row while speaking to a crowd at the party’s conference today: ‘The government is falling apart as we speak. Last week the prime minister announced phase two of his government. How’s that going, Keir? They are on the run from us, and ladies and gentlemen, Rayner has resigned. And let me tell you, one by one, we are taking every single one down.’
She has also been shown sympathy from Labour colleagues as the issue involves a deeply private matter relating to her family.
But others have said that there cannot be different rules for others.
Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said Rayner’s position had become ‘untenable,’ before urging the government to focus on ‘helping the millions of people’ struggling.
‘My sympathy was with her as the parent of a disabled child – I am the parent of a disabled child.
‘But you still have to follow the rules.’
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