Angela Rayner has been accused of plotting a ‘coup’ against the Prime Minister after it was claimed her allies were preparing an alternative programme for Government – funded by the unions and masterminded by her boyfriend.
Senior Labour figures said they had been contacted by friends of Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner inviting them to help create a ‘think-tank’ which would ‘promote a more confident centre-Left programme within government’.
Under the plan, the unnamed outfit – which is being seen as a vehicle for Ms Rayner’s leadership ambitions – would be run by her on-off partner Sam Tarry, 42, a former Labour MP for Ilford South who was deselected in 2022.
Last night a source close to Ms Rayner, 45, insisted the claims were ‘absolute nonsense’.
But they follow a week in which Ms Rayner waged a public war with Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to advance her Left-wing agenda.
It came after a leaked memo showed she had urged the Chancellor to hike taxes on savers and high earners and suggested stripping middle-class families of child benefit payments.
A senior Labour source said: ‘The think-tank’s main job will be to be a focus for Angela’s leadership ambition. It’s part of her shadow campaign – the start of a coup.’
Angela Rayner has been accused of plotting a ‘coup’ against the Prime Minister after it was claimed her allies were preparing an alternative programme for Government – funded by the unions and masterminded by her boyfriend
Under the plan, the unnamed outfit – which is being seen as a vehicle for Ms Rayner’s leadership ambitions – would be run by her on-off partner Sam Tarry, 42 (pictured), a former Labour MP for Ilford South who was deselected in 2022
Senior Labour figures said they had been contacted by friends of Ms Rayner inviting them to help create a ‘think-tank’ which would ‘promote a more confident centre-Left programme within government’. Last night a source close to Ms Rayner, 45, insisted the claims were ‘absolute nonsense’
Ms Rayner is fast becoming the rallying point for Labour MPs opposed to the Government’s welfare reforms, including the now half-abandoned removal of winter fuel payments.
As many as 170 Labour MPs are threatening to avoid voting for welfare reforms when they come before the Commons next month, which poses a threat even to Sir Keir’s gargantuan 174-seat majority.
Among Labour voters, only Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham comes close to matching Ms Rayner’s support in the race to succeed Sir Keir, with other leadership contenders, such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting, now regarded as outsiders.
Ms Rayner’s jostling has already led her to repeatedly threaten to resign from the Cabinet over the ‘impossible’ target No 10 has set for her to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years.
Her pushing has intensified in the wake of this month’s local election results, which showed the extent to which Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is surging in Labour’s heartlands. Ms Rayner’s seat of Ashton-under-Lyne is a major Reform target.
The disarray in Labour follows the steepest fall in a government’s popularity in modern times, with the party polling up to ten points below Reform.
Cultural differences are also feeding into the schism – an ally of Ms Rayner said the ‘leak’ of the memo is partly prompted by a growing resentment about the ‘patronising’ attitude of Sir Keir’s London-based circle.
Pictured: Rayner’s boyfriend Mr Tarry who was ousted as the Ilford South MP at the last election after a bitter local battle which saw him deselected as a Labour candidate
It came after a leaked memo showed she had urged the Chancellor (pictured) to hike taxes on savers and high earners and suggested stripping middle-class families of child benefit payments
An ally of Ms Rayner said the ‘leak’ of the memo is partly prompted by a growing resentment about the ‘patronising’ attitude of Sir Keir’s London-based circle
A significant proportion of Sir Keir’s 400-plus MPs are now said to be panicking about their fate at the next General Election and turning to the working-class ‘authenticity’ of Ms Rayner, in contrast to the metropolitan image of Sir Keir and his acolytes.
Ms Rayner’s supporters have now organised focus groups to find out how she would fare in a leadership campaign, with the results suggesting she needs to show she is a ‘serious politician’.
Speculation about Ms Rayner’s ambitions increased last year when it was revealed that, in July 2022, four internet domain names had been registered by persons unknown: ‘raynerforpm.co.uk’; ‘angelaforpm.co.uk’; ‘angela4pm.co.uk’ and ‘rayner4pm.co.uk’. Labour denied the domain names had anything to do with her.
In March, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Ms Rayner was back with her ‘soulmate’ Mr Tarry.
Speculation about Ms Rayner’s ambitions increased last year when it was revealed that, in July 2022, four internet domain names had been registered by persons unknown. Labour denied the domain names had anything to do with her.
In March, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Ms Rayner was back with her ‘soulmate’ Mr Tarry (pictured right). Sir Keir sacked him as a shadow transport minister in July 2022 after he gave an unauthorised TV interview from a rail picket line
She made the relationship official three years after it was made public by declaring Corbynista Mr Tarry as her partner in the register of ministers’ interests.
Sir Keir sacked him as a shadow transport minister in July 2022 after he gave an unauthorised TV interview from a rail picket line.
Last year it emerged Ms Rayner failed to declare taking Mr Tarry on a holiday to New York, which was paid for by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli.
Their relationship was unwittingly made public at the start of 2022 when Mr Tarry, then married to a paediatric consultant, was pictured leaving her flat with her one morning. He seemed to have a toothbrush in his coat pocket.
