Angela Rayner condemns ‘arrogant tittle tattle’ amid Labour infighting

Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has refused to rule out a return to frontline politics and called for party unity, condemning recent Labour infighting as “arrogant tittle tattle”.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror during a constituency visit to a care centre, Ms Rayner said recent reports of anonymous briefings and speculation over possible leadership manoeuvring was detached from the issues affecting everyday people.

When quizzed if a return to frontline politics may be on the cards, the former deputy Labour leader told the newspaper she had not “gone away”.

She said: “I’m really humbled and I always have been, the people of Ashton-under-Lyne have always supported me.

“The 10 years that I’ve been in government I’ve had quite a number of front bench positions, and I’ve always brought it back to the people that I was there to represent and having this opportunity now, to be more in the constituency and to champion those views is something that I’m humbled to do and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

“I’ve got a lot of interests like child poverty, the fair pay agreement, and making sure the Employment Rights Bill is carried out in full.”

It comes days after the Prime Minister announced an investigation into the source of allegations that Health Secretary Wes Streeting was plotting a leadership challenge. Labour chairwoman Anna Turley said Sir Keir Starmer would “take action” to prevent further attacks.

Mr Streeting earlier hit out at the “toxic culture” around the No 10 operation, focusing fresh attention on whether Sir Keir’s long-time ally and chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, could survive in his post.

Ms Rayner said: “I think Wes has clearly set out his stall after what was clearly a very turbulent couple of days and I think being around here for the last hour just shows you actually that that tittle tattle in Westminster it almost looks arrogant when you’ve got real challenges that real people are facing and that’s what we really need to be focusing on.”

The PM said he had been assured the briefings targeting Mr Streeting “didn’t come from Downing Street”, but added: “I will absolutely deal with anybody responsible for briefing against ministers, Cabinet ministers or any other ministers.”

“I think the party should always be together,” Ms Rayner said.

“I’ve always been of that nature and the way in which I’ve worked within our movement is, our movement has many different views and we should always look to bind ourselves within that.”

She 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.