Angela Rayner's departure threatens to bring simmering Labour anxieties to the boil

Andrew Rawnsley

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The approaching contest for a new deputy leader could turn out to be a proxy vote of confidence in the prime minister

Time was when Sir Keir Starmer would have lost little sleep about the fate of Angela Rayner, might have slumbered more peacefully knowing that she was gone. When Labour suffered the disastrous loss of the Hartlepool byelection in May 2021, he sought to sideline the deputy he did not choose, she retaliated by threatening a leadership challenge and he succumbed by festooning her with more titles than a grandee of the Hapsburg empire. It would be a stretch to say that the former barrister and the former care worker subsequently blossomed into bosom buddies. Both referred to themselves as an odd couple. But he grew to appreciate her value to government and to fear that her exit could spark a convulsive struggle over Labour's future.

In the buildup to Friday's resignation, the prime minister expended some of his depleted political capital by saying he was proud to have her by his side. That was all for naught when the findings of the ethics invigilator landed on his desk. Sir Laurie Magnus's praise for Ms Rayner for acting "with integrity" was trumped by his conclusion that she should have taken more care to be sure that she paid the correct amount of stamp duty on her flat purchase and her failure to do so was unequivocally a breach of the ministerial code.

"I have huge sympathy for Angela, but she had to go," says one cabinet member close to the prime minister. Sir Keir had pledged a tougher standards regime and to be merciless in the removal of ministers, however mighty or popular, who transgressed. He could either stick to that pledge or start becoming a version of Boris Johnson with a neater haircut. He chose to be "Mr Rules".