In Westminster, attention is focused on some candid remarks delivered by Angela Rayner last night in the basement of a Whitehall pub (“hopefully not one Labour MPs are banned from,” she joked).
In a wide-ranging speech at a drinks reception held by the soft-left group Mainstream, the former deputy prime minister spoke about the challenges to the Labour government and her desire for wide-ranging constitutional reforms, then launched a broadside against Shabana Mahmood’s recently announced plans for immigration reform.
The most excitable talk today will be about whether this is the start of a leadership tilt. While Rayner did not mention the PM once in her speech, she was excoriating in her critique of a government that in her view has to be “dragged” to do “the right thing”, is “embarrassed” of its left-wing achievements and has been seen to become part of “the establishment”. “There’s no safe ground and we’re running out of time,” she warned colleagues.
But more immediately Rayner’s remarks last night could spell certain doom for the immigration reforms the Home Secretary announced earlier this month, particularly plans to retrospectively change the settlement period for migrants.
At the time I noted here in Morning Call that there had been a pre-emptive letter of concern sent to the Home Secretary and signed by 100 Labour MPs (enough potential rebels to defeat the government in vote in the House of Commons). That letter was organised by Tony Vaughan, the barrister and MP for Folkestone who has emerged as a leading opponent of Mahmood’s approach at the Home Office.
Last night at Mainstream’s reception, it was Vaughan who introduced Rayner, who then went on to suggest Mahmood’s programme was “not just bad policy but a breach of trust” and described “moving the goalposts” on settlement as “un-British”.There are MPs uncomfortable with the reforms who did not sign Vaughan’s letter. With Rayner’s intervention, they may rally. Her influence over a big chunk of Labour backbenchers has already been well demonstrated since she left government last year.
Last night may not have been the start of a leadership bid, but it was the beginning of a potentially powerful alliance in the Parliamentary Labour Party.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here
[Further reading: Keir Starmer is struggling to keep his New Year’s resolution]
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment