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Keir Starmer hints at major Angela Rayner comeback with three-word vow

Keir Starmer said he's always said that Angela Rayner 'has not only played a big part in Labour politics in our country's politics, but has got a big part to play in the future'

[Angela Rayner will be a big voice in the future, Keir Starmer said]

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Angela Rayner will be a big voice in the future, Keir Starmer said(Image: PA)

Angela Rayner will be a big voice in the future, Keir Starmer said, with a promise shell return to frontline politics at the right point.

The Prime Minister praised his former deputy, who was forced to resign over a tax row in September, for helping Labour get elected and for her landmark employment rights laws. In a three-word vow, Mr Starmer echoed a comment allegedly made by Ms Rayner to a group of Labour MPs that she is "not dead yet.

Asked about her remark, the PM said: I've always said that Angela has not only played a big part in Labour politics in our country's politics, but has got a big part to play in the future.

That's not new. I said that on the day that she stepped down, and I don't doubt that that's true. She's certainly not dead yet. She's got a huge contribution to make, and I look forward to her making it.

[Angela Rayner was forced to resign over a tax row in September]

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Angela Rayner was forced to resign over a tax row in September(Image: Getty Images)

Pressed on whether she will be back round the Cabinet table, Mr Starmer told Times Radio: "I would like to have Angela back at the right point. I've always been clear she has a future role to play. She's a fantastic asset for the Labour Party.

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."

Ms Rayner, who resigned in September after admitting not paying enough stamp duty on her seaside home in Hove, currently faces an HMRC probe.

Allies of the former Housing Secretary have complained that the slow pace of the investigation is pushing back her political comeback. One Rayner ally and Labour MP told The Times HMRC was an inept department that takes for ever to make a decision.

Her pals suggested shed be back no matter the outcome. Either she broke the rules, which means that thousands of other people also have accidentally and now owe HMRC, another ally said. Or she is innocent, which is even worse. She will have resigned after doing nothing wrong.

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Ms Rayner is seen by some as a Labour leadership contender if Mr Starmer is forced out. The PM faces a test with voters at the Gorton and Denton by-election later this month, as well as at the May local elections.

Asked if he wants Ms Rayner to campaign in the by-election in the Greater Manchester area, Mr Starmer said: I want everybody on the ground in the by-election because it's going to be a straight fight between Labour and Reform. We will go as the patriots renewing our country, inclusive, bringing our communities together.

We know from the candidate that Reform have elected that they will take it into the gutter politics of divide and toxic division. So that's the choice. The only way to stop that toxic divide is to vote Labour. And the whole labour movement will be out there making that case.

At a fundraising dinner last month, Ms Rayner reportedly said: Youll remember when I was a young whippersnapper. Ive come through the ranks and had the honour and the privilege to get us into government and become your deputy prime minister. And Im still fighting. Im not dead yet.

In September, Ms Rayner was forced to quit after the PMs ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus ruled she had broken the rules by underpaying stamp duty by 40,000 on her seaside home in Hove, East Sussex.

The rapid probe said she had acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service - but found she had breached the ministerial code.

In her resignation statement, Ms Rayner said HMRC has her "full cooperation", adding: "There is no excuse not to pay taxes owed, and I will do so. This was an honestly made mistake, but when you make a mistake you take responsibility."

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