'My phone rang and I knew I was getting the sack'

BUT MP NOW 'MORE POWERFUL THAN EVER' AFTER BECOMING PARTY'S DEPUTY LEADER

- By HELENA VESTY

LUCY Powell has spoken about how she was brought to tears after being suddenly ousted from Sir Keir Starmer's cabinet, but now says she carries 'more influence' than ever.

The MP for Manchester Central was one of only two people to depart from the cabinet when the Prime Minister decided on a reshuffle in September last year, which followed the sudden exit of Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner.

Speaking to British Vogue, she recalled how the phone rang one morning last autumn, flashing up with an unknown number.

She told her aides: "This is me about to get the sack, it's going to hurt."

Yet it prompted an outpouring of support from her colleagues, disappointed to see the person dubbed by Vogue as 'the voice of Starmer's discontented party' be let go from the cabinet. The 'heartfelt' messages made, she admits now, reduced her to tears.

"I didn't realise I had that much effect on anybody," Powell recalled.