Angela Rayner has always liked to make an impression.
However, she left onlookers in Parliament’s famous Strangers Bar open-mouthed this week after staggering heavily into a door as she departed after a long evening of socialising.
Witnesses told the Daily Mail that the former deputy prime minister collided with the door with a loud bang, and was left ‘bent over’ by the force of the impact.
The door – the main entrance to the riverside drinking den – was removed the following day for repairs, although parliamentary sources denied it was connected with Ms Rayner’s collision the previous night.
Earlier on Monday evening, she was seen having a fiery debate about the merits of socialism with a fellow drinker at the bar.
One onlooker recalled ‘she wasn’t holding back’, while a second claimed she had yelled ‘I’m a socialist’ at her interlocutor.
Ms Rayner, widely seen as one of the frontrunners to replace Sir Keir Starmer if ousted by MPs after the May 7 local elections, was branded ‘absolutely obliterated’ by a source in the room.
A privacy screen has now been erected in the doorway of the bar to protect MPs at the watering hole from prying eyes in the passing corridor.
Angela Rayner enjoying a drink in the beer garden of The Plume of Feathers pub in Stevenage
Ms Rayner’s recent revelry appeared to bring to an end a previously reported period of sobriety
Despite reports just weeks ago that she’d given up the booze to prepare to be Prime Minister, Monday night’s antics suggest this resolution has gone out of the window
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP’s antics sparked criticism from witnesses. One told the Daily Mail: ‘Given she’s basically weeks away from being PM, I don’t think it’s up to scratch.’
A second echoed: ‘She was trollied. This is an important moment for her and the country. I can’t believe she allowed herself to get into that state.’
But an MP friend of Ms Rayner, who is still waiting to be cleared by HMRC over the tax avoidance row that saw her quit the Cabinet last year, insisted: ‘I spoke to her in between votes there and she seemed perfectly fine to me!’
Ms Rayner has previously revelled in her party-loving reputation, revealing that her favourite cocktail is a ‘lethal’ one called ‘Venom’, which comprises a bottle of vodka, a bottle of Southern Comfort, ten bottles of Blue WKD and a litre of orange juice.
Last summer she made headlines again after being snapped holidaying in Brighton, clutching a huge glass of wine on the beach.
Ms Rayner’s revelry appeared to bring to an end a previously reported period of sobriety.
Earlier this month, the Mail revealed she had gone on the wagon in an apparent effort to boost her leadership credentials.
At the time, friends said she had cut down on her drinking dramatically since the start of the year, voicing surprise when she turned down a drink she was offered at an event.
Ms Rayner was photographed enjoying a vast glass of rose on holiday in Brighton last year
Newly elected Green MP Hannah Spencer sparked a fresh debate about MPs’ drinking habits this week after claiming to smell the alcohol on their breath during votes
They added: ‘I was gobsmacked – if you know Angie, then you know that’s big. Some people have been asking whether she really wants the top job and all the scrutiny that comes with it. It’s true she was very bruised by everything surrounding the resignation last year.
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‘But the fact she is cleaning up her act suggests to me she is deadly serious about going for it.’
It comes in a week that has seen the alcohol antics of MPs once again thrust into the limelight.
The newly elected Green Party MP Hannah Spencer, who entered the Commons just two months ago after the Gorton and Denton by-election, sparked widespread debate after claiming she could ‘smell the alcohol’ on her colleagues during votes.
Speaking in an interview last week, she claimed to be ‘really uneasy’ about the drinking culture in Parliament.
Ms Spencer added: ‘You can smell the alcohol when people are in between votes.’
Nigel Farage hit back by pointing out the contrast between the Green Party’s criticism of alcohol and their policy on decriminalising drugs.
The pint-loving Reform UK leader commented: ‘The Greens are happy to legalise heroin and crack, but now we learn they think an afternoon pint is a step too far.’
A House of Commons source said they ‘do not recognise’ accusations that Ms Rayner caused the bar’s door to break, and that Parliament’s maintenance team is completing a full repair after making the area safe.
A spokesman for Ms Rayner said: ‘This is a concoction of mischief-making.
‘Angela had a glass of wine in Strangers Bar with her friends, and the notion she broke a door is total rubbish.’
