Rayner memoir fuels leadership speculation

Angela Rayner is writing a memoir about her rise to become deputy prime minister and her subsequent fall from grace, the Guardian can confirm, in a move that will be seen as an attempt to set the narrative before any leadership contest.

- Pippa Crerar Political editor

The book, which will detail the Labour politician's life story from her impoverished childhood and leaving school at 16 while pregnant via the union movement and the Labour party to the second highest office in the land, is to be published in the second half of next year.

Rayner has kept a relatively low profile since quitting as deputy prime minister in September after a row over failing to pay stamp duty on a flat. She has only intervened publicly on issues close to her heart, such as workers' rights, on which she warned the government not to "blink or buckle" on its workers' rights bill.

Often considered a potential successor to Keir Starmer, she declined to rule out running for the leadership or returning to frontline politics in her first public comments after stepping down, saying she had "not gone away". Speculation about her ambitions has continued.

This month, Starmer said she was "hugely talented" and he would bring her back to the cabinet, while her allies have said she left her role as housing secretary with a much clearer view of how to implement Labour values in government and would be keen to return to do more.