Angela Rayner is already being frozen out, allies fear

To the unsuspecting onlooker, it would appear that Sir Keir Starmer is running a rather slick operation. 

With his Cabinet appointed and his Downing Street team in place, a steady drumbeat of Government announcements has dominated the news agenda this week.

But just over a week into the new regime, tensions are bubbling under the surface. Allies of Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, fear she is being “frozen out” and believe she is already being unfairly stripped of responsibilities.

Ms Rayner, directly elected by Labour members as Deputy PM and therefore unsackable, has already been identified as the biggest potential threat to Sir Keir’s authority.

The darling of the Left, she has her own power base within the party and is particularly popular among those who, like her, have come up through the ranks from the trade union movement.

A Savanta poll earlier this month showed she was by far the most popular choice among Labour voters to succeed Sir Keir. She has a powerful mandate from the membership, having been elected deputy in 2020 with more than twice as many votes in the final round as Rosena Allin-Khan, her nearest rival.

However, friends of Ms Rayner are growing concerned that her authority is being gradually and subtly undermined.

While in opposition, she had been leading one of Labour’s flagship policies, the new deal for working people, which promises to boost wages and give workers more rights.

But it is now Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, whose department will take the lead. “This probably means that the new deal will get killed off as Jonny Reynolds will want to do what is best for business, not what is best for the unions – it will be a clash,” said one Labour source.

According to party insiders, there is now growing speculation that Ms Rayner is also set to have the planning brief taken away from her after Rachel Reeves made it the focus of her first major speech as Chancellor.

“Angela has been frozen out of everything. She was sitting in the front row of a speech about her own department,” said a source.

Others point to the fact that many of Ms Rayner’s shadow cabinet team were overlooked when it came to getting jobs in the Government. 

Mike Amesbury, Paula Barker and Flo Eshalomi, close allies and members of her shadow housing team, have been relegated to the backbenches. Matt Pennycook and Jim McMahon, also members of her shadow team, have been appointed as ministers in her department.

Friends of Ms Rayner are urging her to “get out there” more and take ownership of her brief. One said: “Everyone has been looking busy – Wes, Ed and Rachel have all been out there doing things. Within a few days, she is already being frozen out of stuff, having parts of her brief taken off her – it is not a great start.”

Wes Streeting used his first day as Health Secretary to declare that the NHS is “broken” and this would be his department’s official policy. He went on to hold a first round of talks with the British Medical Association, aimed at breaking the deadlock on junior doctor strikes.

Meanwhile, Ms Reeves chose the Churchill Room at the Treasury, where the creation of the NHS was announced, to deliver her maiden speech as Chancellor, and Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has spent the past few days implementing a ban on North Sea oil and setting up a new net zero task force.

One issue said to be hampering Ms Rayner is that the office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not yet been defined. Nick Parrott, her chief of staff, was not able to get hold of Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s powerful chief of staff, to discuss it before election day.

But John McTernan, who was political secretary to Sir Tony Blair from 2005 to 2007, said that this should not pose a problem for her.

“Angela has got the position in the party with its own mandate and a position in the Cabinet of Deputy Prime Minister,” he said. “She has the relationships with the powerhouses at the centre of the operation – Keir, Rachel and Ed – and if you look at her department, she is at the heart of Labour’s growth agenda.”

The Telegraph understands Ms Rayner is happy with her team of ministers and will still remain closely involved with the  new deal.

Meanwhile, a restructure at Labour’s campaign headquarters, which was meant to take place last week, has been delayed because David Evans, the party’s general secretary, has been unable to get the green light from Ms Gray.

“David was meant to be overseeing this but can’t start it as he hasn’t had a steer from Sue Gray about what the structure of Downing Street will look like,” said a Labour source. “He is blowing up because Sue Gray isn’t answering the phone to him.”

While some staff have been offered plum jobs in either Downing Street or government departments, dozens of others are now left in limbo. Anyone hired on a general election contract is now officially working out their notice, which was triggered on polling day.

A Labour source said: “Following the election, many members of the team have moved into government roles, meaning changes to the HQ operation. This will allow the party to support the Government on delivering its mission of national renewal.

“The restructure of the Downing Street operation has moved at pace. It would not be correct to say that this has caused frustration for senior personnel in the party.”