Keir Starmer hints at comeback for Angela Rayner

Sir Keir said he wanted to bring her back to the front line ‘at the right point’

Sir Keir Starmer has hinted that Angela Rayner could make a comeback to frontline politics as he suggested the former deputy prime minister has a “future role to play” in government.

Ms Rayner has remained a popular figure within the Labour Party despite having to resign last year after she admitted she did not pay enough stamp duty on the purchase of her £800,000 seaside flat in Hove.

Her return to the frontbench has been widely speculated since her departure, and she has even been tipped as a potential candidate to replace Sir Keir given her popularity within the party.

On Monday, Sir Keir said he wanted to bring her back to the front line “at the right point”.

“I would like to have Angela back at the right point. I’ve always been clear she has a future role to play,” the prime minister told Times Radio.

“She played a huge part in the achievement that we got at the last election; getting elected, we’ve just passed the Employment Rights Act, which has got her fingerprints all over it.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with Angela Rayner (Ben Whitley/PA) (PA Archive)

Last week, it was reported that Ms Rayner was believed to be preparing for a comeback, having declared: “I’m not dead yet.”

She also reportedly said Labour’s current leadership “should do better” as she hinted at a planned return to government in private remarks at a fundraising dinner, according to The Times.

Ms Rayner was also reported to have warned of the “dangerous” threat posed by Reform UK and vowed: “I ain’t giving those keys to No 10 to Nigel Farage.”

Speaking to activists in central London in January, Ms Rayner reportedly thanked them for their loyalty since her 2015 election as the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne.

She said: “You’ll remember when I was a young whippersnapper. I’ve come through the ranks and had the honour and the privilege to get us into government and become your deputy prime minister. And I’m still fighting. I’m not dead yet.”

Ms Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader in September after an independent ethics probe found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on a seaside flat.

Ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus said she had “acted with integrity” but failed to heed legal advice warning her of the correct surcharge owed.