𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Is Britain ready for Prime Minister Angela Rayner? It could happen soon. Now that Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is denied a route back to Westminster, the former Deputy Prime Minister is perfectly placed to position herself as a champion of Labour’s soft Left who can save Sir Keir Starmer’s party from annihilation.

With Labour on course for historic defeats in May’s local and devolved elections, pressure on the present prime minister to step down will almost certainly intensify. The party will be anxious to avoid a leadership contest so brutal it resembles a civil war, and Ms Rayner is in place as an alternative PM ready and waiting to step into Number 10.

There are six key reasons why the coming to power of Ms Rayner in Downing Street is a genuine possibility.

First, if Mr Burnham had made it to Westminster she would have found herself competing for the support of the same soft Left voters. So long as the likes of Energy Security Secretary Ed Miliband sit this one out, she may be free to go head to head with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the likely standard bearer of the Labour Right.

She had called for Mr Burnham to be allowed to stand, cautioning against “stitch-ups”. Those supportive words will not be forgotten.

Second, she is one of the few Labour figures who looks glad that the party is in power. While the burden of Government weighs heavily Sir Keir and Chancellor, Ms Rayner takes delight in chalking up wins.

The Government’s decision to cap ground rents paid to freeholders at £250 looks like a victory for her. Likewise, the Employment Rights Bill – loathed by the Right and loved by the Left – is seen as a signature achievement and prized by the unions.

Third, she has a message Labour activists want to hear. While Sir Keir and Ms Reeves started off their time in Government by warning that the country was skint and launching unpopular cash raids on pensioners and farmers, Ms Rayner insists Labour can still change the UK for the better.

She put it astutely at a fundraiser, saying: “We’ve done a lot of really good things. But my diagnosis of what’s gone wrong is that people think we’ve got there through being pushed there, as opposed to people thinking that that’s what we stand for and believe. I think that we need to be unapologetically Labour.”

When she called for the party to put “rocket boosters up it”, many activists might think she is exactly the gravity-escaping booster Labour needs.

Fourth, in the era of big personalities, Labour needs someone who can debate with Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch at their most pugilistic.

As she demonstrated in her stand-ins at Prime Minister’s Questions, she can think on her feet. For the 2029 election, Labour will need a leader with an authentic voice who can command attention. She will not step away from an electoral fight.

Fifth, she is not a Londoner.

Many activists will jump at the chance to make history, not just by selecting their first female leader but by putting a former care worker who left school at 16 into Downing Street. Sir Keir, in his letter to her after she resigned following her stamp duty debacle, described her as the “living embodiment of social mobility”.

Sixth, she has been loyal.

She has been freed from collective responsibility ever since she left the cabinet but she has not embarrassed the Government or become a public enemy of the PM. It is a long time since she was caught calling Tories “scum”. As a rank and file MP she has sought to strengthen Labour at a time of weakness, and members for fear for the future of the party will respect that.

Mr Burnham riled MPs when speculation about his leadership ambitions stole attention during the party conference. In sharp conference, Ms Rayner has played it cool.