Poor old Angela Rayner. It seems she is not too happy about reports that she is being ‘frozen out’ of decision-making in the new government, amid claims that she is the victim of a media ‘briefing war.’ Various reports have appeared suggesting that she has lost control of Labour’s employee rights’ package to the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and planning reform to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Use of the grace-and-favour residence of Dorneywood has also been given to Reeves, unlike in the days of John Prescott. Bad luck improving your croquet skills Ange.
It’s a far cry from, er, March when allies of Rayner were busy briefing about ‘plans to establish a powerful new department at the core of UK government to shore up her position’. Rayner was reported by Bloomberg to be ‘seeking to re-establish an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’ similar to that enjoyed by Prescott and Nick Clegg. Keen to see how that was going, Mr S has done some digging. Sadly for Rayner, rather than the all-powerful department enjoyed by her predecessors, it seems she only enjoys a skeleton staff, with the ‘DPM’ title acting as little more than a sinecure.
According to a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), just ‘ten civil servants worked in the Deputy Prime Minister’s office as of 18 August 2024.’ This single private office is stretched over the MHCLG on 2 Marsham Street and the Cabinet Office on 70 Whitehall. The latter department insists that there is moreover ‘no specific staff or budget allocation’ for Rayner on its premises. Adding insult to injury is the bio of the official Twitter account of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office. It reads simply: ‘This is not being updated as the current administration does not have a Deputy Prime Minister.’ Ouch.
A spokesman for MHCLG told Mr S: ‘The Deputy Prime Minister has been supported by our entire department to deliver on her priorities both as DPM and Secretary of State since the new government was formed.’ But it’s hardly the power base that some were suggesting it would be back in April…
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