Angela Rayner has reportedly come close to quitting the Government over Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes, believing the target is completely “impossible” to achieve.
According to a new biography by Lord Ashcroft, the Deputy Prime Minister and deputy Labour leader was only persuaded not to walk away after a last-minute call from Tony Blair himself, reported the Express.
Ms Rayner is said to have been furious about the housebuilding promise, feeling it was never realistic and shouldn’t have been sold to voters last year. She’s also apparently still smarting about being passed over for Dorneywood – the 21-room grace-and-favour mansion in Buckinghamshire – which instead went to Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
While Tony Blair famously let his deputy John Prescott use Dorneywood, Keir Starmer decided to stick with recent Tory tradition by giving it to the Chancellor. Eventually, Ms Rayner was handed an apartment at Admiralty House on Whitehall, after she was nearly “fobbed off with a property in Northern Ireland.”
In Red Flag, Lord Ashcroft’s updated biography of Starmer, it’s claimed that “Rayner threatened to resign because she felt she’d been set the impossible target of Labour building 1.5 million new homes.”
“It took a call from Tony Blair to talk her down – which, incidentally, tells you how important Blair is to the Starmer project,” the book reveals.
A Labour source also sounded the alarm, warning that Rayner’s housebuilding programme could fall apart: “We don’t have enough bricks and there isn’t enough water to supply these houses.”
Another Labour MP chipped in: “I think Rayner realised a while ago that the 1.5 million new homes target is undeliverable. But now the penny’s dropped for Angie’s team that she was set up to fail on this all along.”
Still, not everyone’s convinced she’s going anywhere. Former Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth joked: “I’ll eat my hat if Angela Rayner quits the Cabinet,” adding, “I’m a big fan of Angela Rayner, I think she’s brilliant.”
Meanwhile, a source close to Ms Rayner insisted: “We do not recognise the claims made. Angela is proud to be serving as Deputy Prime Minister in Keir’s cabinet and delivering on Labour’s crystal clear commitment to build 1.5 million homes as part of our Plan for Change.”
It’s not the first time there’s been tension between Rayner and Starmer. Back in 2021, after she was sacked as Labour Party chair in a messy reshuffle, Ms Rayner reportedly swore at Starmer and stormed out of a meeting. She even considered launching a coup against him, before backing down to avoid what insiders called “a nuclear missile on their faces.”
Don’t Miss These:
- Keir Starmer Slammed as ‘Empty Suit’ as Doubts Grow Over His Future in No.10
- BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg Sparks Outrage as Viewers Make the Same Furious Complaint
- Why is Prince Harry afraid of Meghan Markle? Expert reveals
- Couple Buys One of UK’s Most Haunted Houses and What They Experienced Left Them Speechless
- First Photo of Teenage Girl Killed in Horror Crash Near Brechin
