We’re stuck with Starmer – but we’ve just found out how bad Rayner and Streeting would be | Politics | News
Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner. (Image: Getty Images)
Labour’s toxic and public display of infighting, briefing and backstabbing over the Peter Mandelson scandal shows us one thing. Whoever replaces Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister when the time comes will be just as awful.
And they will have an extra quality that the current No. 10 incumbent lacks: a collaborative political brain. Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner were on full display during the turmoil in Downing Street last week.
READ MORE: ‘Keir Starmer is done; A light wind will knock it down now’
Smiling Angela Rayner cuts her hair for the cameras on TikTok (Image:-)
While their bosses faced public flogging, both were shrewd in positioning themselves.
The red-haired woman who showed off getting her Barnets done on TikTok has been maneuvering almost since she was sacked for dodgy tax work last September before the deadly Rayner came to Starmer’s rescue by publicly backing him.
It’s still on his mind, but friends of the former deputy Prime Minister say he’s “ready” for a leadership bid.
It was also revealed that a website claiming to have launched a leadership campaign for him was briefly launched last month.
A senior Labor figure recently said: “Angela says she got the scars for Jeremy Corbyn, she got the scars for Keir Starmer, so the next time she gets them it will be for her.”
Another said MPs who were “foaming at the mouth” at the chance to appoint Streeting as leader were “mad because he’s been damaged by his relationship with Mandy” [Mandelson]”.
On the other hand, Blue Eyed Street is allegedly behind Anas Sarwar’s failed coup to oust the Prime Minister.
He later published WhatsApp conversations between himself and Mandelson in a naked attempt to clear the decks ahead of a potential leadership contest.
Health Minister Wes Streeting (Image: PA)
Those close to Streeting accuse Rayner’s allies of exacerbating divisions within the party. One of them said: “Labour is pretty fed up with the toxic briefing culture in No 10 and would not want anything worse to be introduced.”
Streeting and Rayner are not the only two potential candidates being talked about in Westminster.
Some on the soft left of the party, normally a Rayner ally, are concerned that polls show him as one of the least popular Labor figures.
Current Labor deputy leader Lucy Powell, energy secretary Ed Miliband or Defense Secretary John Healey could be alternative candidates.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has not given up hope of returning to the House of Commons after being blocked from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelections. But given that the party leader must be chosen from among existing MPs, the leadership contest in the next few weeks will be too early for him.
But Miliband excluded himself.
Some in the party believe Shabana Mahmood, who has conservative social views but economic views to the left of the party, would be the best successor.
But his standing among Labor Party members has been hit by his tough stance on immigration as Home Secretary.
One unlikely 2024 candidate some are talking about is former Royal Marines officer Al Carns.
So where are we now regarding Starmer?
Even the slightest scratch could be a fatal blow that could bring down your premiership.
And there are no pitfalls ahead: the Manchester by-election, the May local elections and the massive dumping of Mandelson messages all present moments of danger.
It could take weeks, it could take months.
But with such abysmal poll numbers, Starmer is unlikely to cheat political death indefinitely.
