Labour under Starmer is a very middle-class operation. It doesn’t matter how often Starmer tells us he’s the “son of a toolmaker”, he belongs to the professional-managerial class, like most of the shadow cabinet.
Rayner, by contrast, is the real deal. She was raised on a council estate in Stockport where she cared for her mother, who has bipolar disorder, and left her local comprehensive aged 16, pregnant and with no qualifications.
She got a job as a care worker and was made union rep because in her own words: “I was mouthy and would take no messing from management.”
It’s easy to see why Labour activists love Rayner, which is why Starmer had to find something for her to do.
Former Tony Blair had the same problem with John Prescott, who had the working class credibility he lacked.
Blair made Prescott deputy PM, which is a position with no actual power, but sounds nice. It kept Prescott happy, anyway.
And it’s kept Rayner happy, too. Until now.
Unfortunately, the “mouthy” bit is coming back to haunt her.
The sight of Angela Rayner partying in Ibiza has annoyed many. Personally, I don’t have a problem with MPs letting their hair down on their hols.
But it isn’t a good look when a senior figure like Rayner does it days after her party leader has made the rest of us feel miserable by telling us the country is falling apart.
It smacks of raving while Rome burns.
Rayner built her brand by mouthing off at the Tories, famously describing them as “scum”.
Yet here she is, defending a government that has stripped support from two million of the poorest pensioners, while blocking a route out of poverty for millions more in social housing.
Rayner is the management now. So she shouldn’t be surprised if people start mouthing off at her.
