Wounded Keir Starmer is facing more evidence of leadership jostling today with Angela Rayner breaking cover.
The humiliating failure of No10’s pre-emptive strike on rivals last week has effectively fired the starting gun on a race to succeed the PM.
And his former deputy has moved to keep herself in the frame by giving her first major interview since quitting for underpaying stamp duty.
Ms Rayner resurfaced with an attack on ‘arrogance’ in Labour’s ranks and Westminster ‘tittle-tattle’ – painting herself as the unity candidate in the developing shadow contest.
She suggested Wes Streeting had ‘set out his stall’, in an apparent swipe at the Health Secretary’s ambitions.
There are claims that Ms Rayner is already lining up MPs for senior jobs in return for support – although allies dismissed the idea as ‘total rubbish’.
Mr Streeting was seen the biggest winner from Downing Street’s extraordinary self-inflicted disaster last week.
After he was singled out in panicky briefings designed to shore up the PM’s position, the Cabinet minister hit out No10’s ‘toxic culture’ and ‘self-destruction’ – saying those responsible should be sacked.
Sir Keir was left desperately trying to save his long-time ally and chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
It then emerged that the premier and Chancellor Rachel Reeves had performed a shambolic U-turn on plans to increase income tax at the Budget, despite weeks of blatant hints.
Labour MPs had been gearing up a bid to kill off the policy, with fears such a blatant breach of the election manifesto would be catastrophic.
Mr Streeting again capitalised on the chaos by declaring that he had never supported the move.
However, while the Health Secretary’s stock has soared, he is still widely seen as too far to the right of Labour to win support from members if there is a contest. He also has a wafer-thin majority to defend in his Commons seat.
In contrast Ms Rayner could rally support from unions and is viewed as the darling of activists.
Although she was forced to apologise and quit over her tax affairs, supporters would point to the conclusions of the PM’s sleaze adviser Sir Laurie Magnus that she had ‘acted with integrity’ despite making a mistake.
The looming Budget and local elections in May appear to be huge moments of danger for Sir Keir.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror during a constituency visit to a care centre, Ms Rayner was asked if a return to frontline politics was on the cards.
She responded that she had not ‘gone away’.
Ms Rayner said: ‘I’m really humbled and I always have been, the people of Ashton-under-Lyne have always supported me.
‘The 10 years that I’ve been in government I’ve had quite a number of front bench positions, and I’ve always brought it back to the people that I was there to represent and having this opportunity now, to be more in the constituency and to champion those views is something that I’m humbled to do and I’m looking forward to the challenge.
‘I’ve got a lot of interests like child poverty, the fair pay agreement, and making sure the Employment Rights Bill is carried out in full.’
Addressing the turmoil in government, Ms Rayner said: ‘I think Wes has clearly set out his stall after what was clearly a very turbulent couple of days and I think being around here for the last hour just shows you actually that that tittle tattle in Westminster it almost looks arrogant when you’ve got real challenges that real people are facing and that’s what we really need to be focusing on.’
Sir Keir said he had been assured the briefings targeting Mr Streeting ‘didn’t come from Downing Street’, but added: ‘I will absolutely deal with anybody responsible for briefing against ministers, Cabinet ministers or any other ministers.’
‘I think the party should always be together,’ Ms Rayner said.
‘I’ve always been of that nature and the way in which I’ve worked within our movement is, our movement has many different views and we should always look to bind ourselves within that.’
Rosie Duffield, who sits as an independent MP after resigning from Sir Keir’s party last year, wrote on X: ‘Very senior Labour MPs, some v recently ousted, are offering positions to other Labour MPs who’ll back them’.
She also claimed that potential candidates whose seats were vulnerable at the next election were house-hunting in safer constituencies ‘they’ve never even set foot in before’.
The Canterbury MP did not name the alleged plotters.
Fielding questions in broadcast studios this morning, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted the past week had been ‘unedifying and deeply embarrassing for everyone concerned’.
But she dismissed the idea that Sir Keir needed to consider his position.
‘No. Keir Starmer is our Prime Minister. We won an election just under a year-and-a-half or so ago, when people thought that we would not win an election for maybe a generation or more,’ she said.
‘I have no time for these things that people say or brief off the record, or any of this, frankly, Westminster bubble tittle-tattle.’
Ms Mahmood added: ‘If people have things to say, they should have the courage of their convictions and say so publicly, and that is not what is happening.
‘I think what happened at the beginning of this week was – with all of those anonymous briefings – unedifying and deeply embarrassing for everyone concerned.’
But Ms Mahmood refused to be drawn on her own alleged leadership ambitions, saying: ‘I don’t engage in future hypotheticals and chitter chatter.’
Left-wing MP Clive Lewis has openly called for Sir Keir to be replaced by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, declaring the PM’s position as ‘not tenable’.
He told C4 News that ‘Labour grandees….need now to really, seriously think how do we get Andy Burnham back into this parliamentary Labour party and let him step up and become the next PM’.
Dire polls showing Reform surging have caused panic in Labour’s ranks, just 16 months after Sir Keir’s triumphant election landslide.
Despite jettisoning the idea of an income tax hike, the Chancellor is still expected to heap more burden on ordinary Britons in her Budget on November 26.
Other often-cited contenders for Labour’s top job include Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham – although would need to find a Commons seat to throw his hat in the ring.
Lucy Powell was recently elected the party’s deputy leader after being seen as the ‘anti-Keir’ candidate during the campaign. She had previously been sacked from the Cabinet.
Ms Mahmood has been burnishing her credentials as tough on immigration, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan is also widely regarded as harbouring ambitions.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Sky News: ‘They are fighting like rats in a sack.
‘You’ve got Keir Starmer briefing against Wes Streeting. You’ve got Angela Rayner sharpening the knives in the background.
‘Goodness knows what Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell are both up to.
‘Instead of serving the national interest, the Labour Government are fighting each other just weeks away from a Budget that will unleash enormous tax rises on this country that will drive up unemployment even further.’
