Sir Keir Starmer must utilise Angela Rayner in the same way Tony Blair used John Prescott in a bid to improve relations with his backbenchers, MPs have said in a further sign of the deputy leader’s growing influence in Whitehall.
Rayner, who holds office as deputy leader, Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, was credited as being critical in winning over welfare rebels earlier this week, prompting calls for No 10 to give her formal role as a bridge between Downing Street and the parliamentary party.
The Prime Minister and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves have come under sustained criticism in recent days over their refusal to engage with backbenchers and their failure to grasp the size of the rebellion building against their welfare bill until the eleventh hour
But Rayner was praised by Cabinet colleagues and MPs alike over her ability to calm backbench jitters over the welfare bill and act as a go-between during fraught negotiations between No10 and rebel MPs, before it was put to a vote on Tuesday.
‘She got why it was such a big issue’
“She was in the whips office for the entire day, calling MPs in to hear their concerns,” one backbencher involved in the talks said. “Her and her team were responsible for pushing for the changes that needed to be made to get the votes from those on the soft left.
“She got why it was such a big issue for many in the PLP (parliamentary Labour party), she was key in getting it over the line.”
The MP added: “I have never had a long conversation with Keir, I haven’t been invited to the Pret-a-Manger sandwich meetings after PMQs. But one of the successes of Tony Blair’s keeping his party on side was that he had John Prescott who could reach MPs that Blair couldn’t. That’s the role Angela should always have been playing. She reaches parts of the party that Keir can’t.”
A Cabinet colleague of Rayner’s said her role in reaching out to the rebels highlighted how “critical she is to the Government”.
Angela Rayner with John Prescott during the 2017 general election campaign. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images)“Not just in terms of what she’s doing in key areas, like house building, but also she is really admired and respected by lots of colleagues across the party. That’s been the case since the start of the Government, but I think it does underline how important her role is.”
It stands in contrast to Reeves’s handling of the rebellion, coming amid reports that she became embroiled in a row with one of the rebel MPs, since denied by the Treasury. Another MP said that the welfare fiasco had “undoubtedly affected Reeves’s authority” but insisted that she would stay in the job and that she was the right person for the role.
Rayner expanding her power base
Rayner’s rise comes in the same week that it emerged that Rayner was to expand her powerbase in Whitehall with the creation of a new Office for the Deputy Prime Minister, based on that of Prescott during the Blair administration.
The new department will boast 30 members of staff and have its own logo and email address in a further sign of Rayner’s growing influence within the Government.
The i Paper understands that while Rayner’s team accept the similarities between her and Prescott, particularly given their backgrounds in the union movement, the claim that she is “Prescott in a skirt” do not give Rayner’s skillset sufficient justice.
Angela Rayner and Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, arriving at Anfield to leave a floral tribute in memory of footballer Diogo Jota who has died at the age of 28. Peter Byrne/PA Wire.It was pointed out that parliamentary colleagues regularly note Rayner’s emotional intelligence, for which the more old-school Prescott was not well-known.
Such deftness of touch was illustrated on Thursday when the Deputy Prime Minister chose to attend Anfield to lay a bouquet of flowers following the death of Liverpool FC striker Diogo Jota.
Rayner, who was in Liverpool for the Local Government Association conference, told broadcasters: “It’s heartbreaking. It is absolutely heartbreaking, and just shows how life events can change really quickly.
“You know, I’m absolutely devastated for his wife and his children and his family. I can’t imagine what they’re going through at the moment. My son’s 28 and it just, it’s really shocking.”
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