Who is Angela Rayner and could she challenge Keir Starmer?

Speaking after the Gorton and Denton by-election defeat, she said the party needs "to be braver" and that the time has come to reflect.

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to make changes after a number of U-turns and scandals - including losing Ms Rayner to the backbenches after a stamp duty scandal.

Ms Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, has come back into the frame as a potential champion of left-wing causes after Labour lost Gorton and Denton to the Green Party, with Reform coming second.

“This result must be a wake-up call. It’s time to really listen - and to reflect,” Ms Rayner tweeted in the aftermath. “Voters want the change that we promised - and they voted for.

“If we want to unrig the system, if we want to make the change we were sent into Government to make, we have to be braver.

“A Labour agenda that puts people first. That’s what all of us across our movement need to rededicate ourselves to.”

Labour is currently polling at 18%, according to YouGov, behind Reform and vying with the Tories for second place.

Ms Rayner had previously been linked to challenging Sir Keir on the back of a rocky period for the prime minister, which saw him forced to act when Lord Mandelson, his appointee as US ambassador, was implicated in the Epstein Files.

While Sir Keir is “going nowhere,” at least according to transport secretary Heidi Alexander in her comments to LBC, Ms Rayner is not likely to be on the Labour backbenches for long.

Angela Rayner’s background and personal life

“From the beginning of my working life, I’ve always stood up for working people, first as a trade union rep representing care workers and then as a regional union official,” Angela Rayner wrote on her official website.

The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne has made her working-class origins her USP within a parliamentary scene made up of Oxbridge alumni.

She takes her surname from her first husband, Mark Rayner, whom she was married to from 2010 to 2020, and has had an on-off relationship with her current boyfriend, the former Labour MP Sam Tarry, since 2022.

Ms Rayner is still only 45 but became a grandmother at 37, having given birth at 16 to her first son, Ryan, who had a daughter of his own in 2017. She has two other sons.

She became the first female Ashton-under-Lyne MP in 2015 and was quickly promoted within the shadow benches, initially under Jeremy Corbyn, before rising to become deputy to Sir Keir in 2020 - and thus deputy prime minister when Labour got into power four years later.

Is Angela Rayner left or right-wing?

Ms Rayner has defined herself as a socialist but has said she does not subscribe to one school of thought.

“I’m Labour through and through, and I wouldn’t define myself by a particular leader,” she told the Guardian in an interview.

She added: “I see myself as soft left. I’m very pragmatic. I’m interested in how we can change lives for the better; how we can put socialism into practice. Every time we expend energy on fighting each other, we’re letting down the people that need us the most.”

While in the Cabinet, the website Labour List suggested that she and culture secretary Lisa Nandy were the two furthest left - with Sir Keir himself being on the right.

Why did Angela Rayner resign as deputy PM?

In September 2025, Ms Rayner resigned from the government after failing to pay a £40,000 tax surcharge on a flat she bought.

Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, found that she broke the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat and, as such, had not met the “highest possible standards of proper conduct”.

She was replaced by David Lammy as deputy prime minister and by Lucy Powell as deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Could Angela Rayner become Labour leader?

The Gorton and Denton by-election was a win for the Green Party - which has styled itself on becoming a home for the left leaning members of Labour who have felt disillusioned under Sir Keir Starmer.

But some have said it was a good result for his old deputy Ms Rayner, who is popular among left-leaning Labour members who are keen for a new face in Number 10.

However, Ms Rayner is not the only show in town and it was Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham who was more strongly linked to a party leadership run, only to be denied the chance to stand for Gorton and Denton.

Lucy Powell, who replaced Ms Rayner as Labour deputy leader, said Mr Burnham “probably would have” held the seat.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has also been touted as a potential name in the frame, should Sir Keir’s position become any more precarious.

While pictures of a bold, new haircut could be dismissed as speculative, a big clue about Ms Rayner’s intentions came when a website launching her leadership bid was leaked.

How could Angela Rayner challenge and what happens next?

Reports in February 2026 said that she had raised a £1 million “war chest” to try and take on Sir Keir in a leadership challenge.

“She has received more than a million in firm pledges and is ready to go,” a Labour source told the Mail.

It has been mooted that Ms Rayner might challenge Sir Keir, with a bid from Mr Streeting also possible, after the local elections in May, if Labour perform poorly.

A supporter of Ms Rayner said: “If Wes Streeting leaves it until May to launch a challenge, Angela is back in the frame.

"We all got our lovely Christmas card from Wes. He’s doing everything he should do. He’s been an operator ever since his NUS [National Union of Students] days. But by May, Angela will have 80 MPs ready to back her.”

However, it might not all be plain sailing for her as Ms Rayner is currently subject to an ongoing HM Revenue and Customs investigation over the flat in Hove, something which could potentially complicate a leadership bid.

But, if she were to go for it, Ms Rayner would have the backing of a union, with TSSA chief Maryam Eslamdoust stating that it is high time Labour had its first female leader.

She said: “I think she can show real leadership; she resonates with people. She can speak in a way that resonates with workers, with working-class communities, with women.”