Angela Rayner stood in for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs, and she opened with fireworks. ‘They’re desperate to talk about my living arrangements,’ she said, referring to her property woes, ‘but the public wants to know what this government is going to do about theirs.’
Brighton resident, Natalie, contacted Rayner about ‘no-fault evictions’. This isn’t much of an issue. When your tenancy ends, you rent a new flat. Big deal. But Labour loves a victim. And they use emotive language to turn the chore of ‘moving house’ into a Dickensian tragedy. ‘Ban this cruel practice,’ cried Rayner. She hasn’t considered that if renters enjoy the same rights as freeholders, the rent will go up. The policy will wreck the benefits it hopes to deliver.
The agony of local taxation came up
Replying for Rishi Sunak, Oliver Dowden began with a quip about his frequent catfights across the despatch-box with Rayner. ‘Any more of these and she’ll be claiming it as her principal residence.’
Rayner was on decent form. Not quite a classic. When riled, she has a habit of improvising which can lead to odd results. Rather ungallantly, she poked fun at Dowden’s appearance and she suggested that fatigue and insomnia afflict him. How would she know?
‘Maybe it’s the 3 a.m. calls from the “bad men” that’s keeping him up,’ she said. Only Westminster geeks will get this reference to a so-called plot involving ‘bad men’ who demand cash from vulnerable backbenchers. She made another off-beat comment in relation to military spending.
Dowden told the house that the PM was on a jaunt around Europe to announce a massive British rearmament programme. And he dared Rayner to follow suit and commit 2.5 per cent of GDP to defence. She answered carefully at first. ‘We all want to see 2.5 per cent,’ she said, which sounds like an endorsement of the Tory plan, but isn’t. Then this:
‘But we haven’t cut the army to its smallest size since Napoleon.’ Military analysts began to scratch their heads. Does today’s army equal its proportions in the early 19th century? Maybe so. But a wiser historical expert might have chosen a different moment. In 1815, the British army, ‘cut to its smallest size,’ managed to defeat Napoleon in a victory that conferred 99 years of relative peace on mainland Europe. Perhaps Rayner knows how to pacify Europe for a century, as Wellington did. If so, let’s vote for her.
The agony of local taxation came up and both parties blamed each other. Dowden praised Andy Street, the Tories’ favourite alderman, who enjoys the title, ‘Mayor of the West Midlands,’ whatever that means. Rayner focused on Birmingham city council and accused Dowden of mugging paupers.
‘Councils are facing black holes because of his government’s austerity programme,’ she said. ‘Birmingham council has had over a billion pounds taken from their budget, from some of the poorest people.’
The problem is not a lack of taxes but a glut of bureaucrats. Sack the officials and the waste goes with them.
The exchange ended with an accidental confession that may acquire greater significance when histories of this decade are written. Launching a personal attack on Dowden, Rayner recalled that he ‘stabbed Boris in the back to get his mate into Downing Street… ditching their biggest election-winner for a pint-sized loser.’
This is a staggering admission from Labour’s high command: Boris was the adversary they feared most. No more discussion needed. No further denials are necessary. Boris’s Tory foes smoothed Sir Keir’s path to power.
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