Donald Trump won’t know what’s hit him if Angela Rayner becomes PM | Politics | News
Why Trump should fear Rayner (Image: PA)
Donald Trump seems on a mission to oust Sir Keir Starmer, telling the world he is “no Winston Churchill”. This comes as former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner makes what looks like a naked bid for the leadership, warning that Labour is “running out of time”. If she replaces Sir Keir at Number 10 the already fraught special relationship with the United States could enter its wildest chapter in decades with the Greater Manchester MP squaring up to the billionaire president. Here are five reasons this could be the feistiest pairing in generations.
Read more: Starmer set for another screeching U-turn after Rayner mutiny on immigration
1. She can land a memorable insult
Angela Rayner enjoyed trolling Rishi Sunak (Image: PA)
Mr Trump is famed for the litany of insulting nicknames he uses to frame his political foes as unworthy of public office. Crooked Hillary, Lyin’ Ted Cruz and Little Rocket Man Kim Jon Un and Sleepy Joe Biden are just a few of his negative branding efforts.
If he tries the same with Ms Rayner, he had better brace for return fire. She is more than willing to engage in strategic name-calling, having described Rishi Sunak as a “pint-sized loser”.
2. Trump may find he has a social media adversary who gives as good as she gets
Donald Trump is the US Tweeter in Chief (Image: AP)
Sir Keir must live in dread of the latest late night posting from the President on his social media account. Mr Trump does not hesitate before tearing into global leaders, but Ms Rayner has form as an online pugilist.
When then-Chancellor Mr Sunak took to social media to invite people to read his latest Number 11 newsletter she responded: “Just do one.”
It is easy to imagine her replying to a nocturnal rant on the President’s Truth Social account with: “U ok hun?”
3. An ambush in the White House could go spectacularly wrong
Sir Keir surprised the president with an invitation for a second state visit (Image: Getty Images)
World leaders routinely traipse into the Oval Office for a televised sit-down with the President which can end up in humiliation. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky was blasted for not being grateful for US war support, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa was castigated for not stopping violence against white farmers and when Canada’s Mark Carney visited Mr Trump the US leader said it would be a “wonderful marriage” if the Commonwealth nation became the 51st state. Would Ms Rayner sit still and smile during such a power play? Probably not.
Back in 2022, describing how she would approach the role of Deputy Prime Minister, she said: “I’m going to be John Prescott in a skirt, I just say it how I see it.”
Mr Prescott was not averse to throwing the odd punch (sometimes not metaphorically) and a Prime Minister Rayner would not step back from a scrap.
She certainly would not be shouted down. As she told a reporter: “My nan used to say, Ange, you could talk a glass eye to sleep.”
4. She’s already let the world know what she thinks about Donald Trump
Angela Rayner would not be voting Republican if she was a US citizen (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
Ms Rayner is not a fan of the MAGA leader and if she gets anywhere near Downing Street a dossier detailing her most controversial remarks will land on the President’s desk.
She once said the Tory manifesto contained “more self-serving delusion than Donald Trump’s Twitter feed”. But it was when Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election had been stolen from him stormed the US Congress that she delivered her most scathing denunciation.
“The violence that Donald Trump has unleashed is terrifying, and the Republicans who stood by him have blood on their hands,” she said. “Our spineless Prime Minister and toadying Foreign Secretary have to also take their fair share of shame for not calling out his lies after the election.”
Then again, Mr Trump has a track record of befriending people who had said scathing things about them. A bestselling memoirist called once describes him as “noxious” and an “idiot” – and now JD Vance is his Vice President.
5. State visits could be a riot
Angela Rayner with Jonathan Ashworth at Labour conference in Brighton (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Mr Trump and Ms Rayner may discover they have much in common. Each has memorable hair and is a maestro at winning attention.
She has described herself as a “woman who feels like she can conquer the world” – and there are times when it looks like Mr Trump is intent on doing this with US firepower. He has a background as a real estate developer and when Housing Secretary she had the ambition of building 1.5 million new homes.
Mr Trump breaks into his own brand of dancing on the campaign trail when the Village People’s YMCA is played. Ms Rayner jumps at the chance to sing karaoke at Labour conferences.
If a Prime Minister Rayner lands in the US, it’s not unthinkable that Mr Trump could arrange a gig with his friend Kid Rock at Mar-a-Lago. And if he makes yet another visit to the UK and swings by Manchester, it would be an act of diplomatic one-upmanship for the ages if she could surprise him with an Oasis performance.
What better signal could there be to the world that the special relationship is back on track than a president and a PM duetting Don’t Look Back in Anger?
