𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Bringing back Angela Rayner in a reshuffle after the local elections would be a desperate last roll of the dice by embattled Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister is said to have privately offered the Labour firebrand a return to his Cabinet as he tries to shore up his floundering premiership.

Speculation is high that he will face a move to oust him after May’s ballots, which are widely expected to be a bloodbath for Labour. Sir Keir spoke to Ms Rayner, who quit in a row over her tax affairs, about a comeback as the pair visited a Greater Manchester school earlier this month.

But it is not clear if Ms Rayner would accept a job from the Prime Minister, who has been left clinging to power amid the Lord Mandelson scandal.

There have been ongoing rumours about her own leadership ambitions, with talk that she could team up with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to unite Labour’s soft-Left.

She has fuelled speculation with a series of public interventions in recent weeks on Labour’s direction.

But if she does make a comeback to Sir Keir’s top team, it may not be enough to save him as Labour faces a drubbing as millions of voters take to the polls next week.

Labour is predicted to lose a swathe of English council seats to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK on the Right and Zack Polanski’s insurgent Green Party on the Left.

The PM’s party is also set to lose control in Wales for the first time in history, in what would be a devastating blow.

Sir Keir may think getting Ms Rayner on board will save him, but she has her own ambitions and might conclude the best thing for her is staying outside the tent.