She's on the brink but can survive

ANGELA Rayner is a political street fighter who has risen to high office through hard graft and force of personality.

- BY LIZZY BUCHAN

Many politicians try to flaunt their working-class credentials but Rayner is the real deal.

She grew up in dire poverty on a Stockport council estate, pregnant at 16 and leaving school without any qualifications.

She became a care worker and later a trade union rep, before being elected to Parliament in 2015. As Keir Starmer said this week, Rayner is an extraordinary British success story.

She has also survived relentless attacks from the right. However, the revelations about her tax affairs are more than political mudslinging.