Labour is poised for a possible leadership contest as soon as this summer ahead of a set of local elections which are expected to be a bruising experience for the party.
If Sir Keir Starmer is forced to stand down – either in the coming weeks, or at another point before the next general election – Angela Rayner is seen as a frontrunner to succeed him.
The former deputy prime minister has made it clear that she is backing Starmer. But she has also worked to bolster her own position within Labour, making high-profile policy interventions where she has generally called for a shift to the left.
Shorts
Rayner’s speeches, and her track record in government before she quit the Cabinet last year after a row over her taxes, set out the broad direction in which she would take the country if she got to No 10.
