Angela Rayner reveals why she'd never want to be prime minister
'Have you ever seen a prime minister after a year or two in government?' the deputy prime minister joked.
The morning after Sir Keir Starmer scraped through a major rebellion over his watered-down welfare reforms, Ms Rayner was asked whether she is waiting in the wings to take the embattled PM's place.
'Not a chance,' she told ITV's Lorraine.
She said: 'It would age me by 10 years within six months, it does, anyone who has been prime minister it is a very challenging job.'
Amid mounting questions about the prime minister's future following a disastrous first year in power, she defended Sir Keir, saying he is 'doing the job for Britain', adding 'there's been a lot going on' in the 12 months since the PM entered Downing Street.
She said: 'He's been all around the world trying to repair the relationships in Europe. We've got the trade deals that the previous government wasn't able to do, tackling the things like the tariffs that the president in the US wanted to put onto the UK, which would have damaged our economy again.
'There's a lot going on, and the prime minister's been […] here, there and everywhere, doing the job for Britain.'
It comes after polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice referred to Sir Keir's first year in office as 'the worst start for any newly elected prime minister'.
He told Times Radio that the prime minister was 'never especially popular' and that 'the public still don't know what he stands for.'
Asked if she would be interested in being prime minister at some point, Ms Rayner told the ITV programme: 'No'.
She said that she is 'passionate' about issues including workers' rights and council housing.
'I'm very interested in delivering for the people of this country, because … to be elected as an MP from my background was incredible,' she said.
'Having that opportunity to serve my community that have raised me, looked after me, given me opportunities, and I don't forget that. And to be deputy prime minister of this country … it's got to count for something.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
Consultation opens for Northamptonshire temporary housing plans
A council has asked people living in a county to share their thoughts on plans to build new temporary accommodation. West Northamptonshire Council said it was preparing planning applications for temporary housing on two sites in Northampton. The plots near Edgar Mobbs Way, near Sixfields, and Birds Hill Walk, in Weston Favell, could create 108 temporary homes, the authority said. Charlie Hastie, Reform UK councillor and cabinet member for housing on the council, said: "This proposal allows us to create temporary accommodation which is better suited to people's needs and saves taxpayers' money." The authority said it has faced significant challenges in finding and funding short-term accommodation for people in West Northamptonshire. In June, the cabinet at the council voted in favour of bringing the management of social housing in-house after a number of "failings" with a property management were was the first major decision by the Reform UK-led council after the party took control of the authority in the local elections in May. Small communities The new proposal would see one and two-bedroom units which could help people while reducing costs, the authority said the new units would "create two small communities" as a starting point for "people to get back on their feet". One of the sites, Edgar Mobbs Way near Sixfields, is planned to have 14 one-bedroom and 56 two-bedroom homes. The other site, which is off Birds Hill Walk in Weston Favell, would see 38 two-bedroom sites are owned by the council who said the units would be stacked to create two floors to make use of the space. Each location would have a community hub building, laundry facilities, cycle and refuse story and a play area, alongside a site office for council support staff and out-of-hours security as added: "Nobody ever wants to find themselves and their family homeless, and if they do, they want the reassurance that someone can help solve the immediate worry of needing a roof over their head."They will have integrated local amenities, though the units can be moved elsewhere at any time, should the need arise."People in the nearby area were invited to look at the plans by the council before they were submitted. The exhibitions were set to take place on 9 July between 15:30 BST and 20:00 at Weston Favell parish Hall in Booth Lane South, and on 16 July between the same times at 1897 Suite at Sixfields Stadium. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
17 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Investors can't trust Labour, warns UK bond giant
Investors can no longer trust Labour after its multiple about-turns, bond giant Legal & General (L&G) has warned. Sonja Laud, the chief investment officer at L&G, said the decision to abandon key benefit reforms and reverse course on winter fuel payments had destroyed faith in the Government's economic plans. L&G is one of Britain's biggest investors, managing £1.1 trillion of assets. It is one of the biggest buyers of UK government debt. Ms Laud said: '[Markets] can't trust that what's been put forward will be put in place. You will see the adverse reaction. It was quite a big one yesterday.' It follows a dramatic day in which Rachel Reeves's tears in the House of Commons triggered a fall in the pound and a jump in borrowing costs. Investors were concerned that the Chancellor could be on the brink of leaving Downing Street, sparking fears that her fiscal rules could be abandoned. However, borrowing costs had been rising even before the Chancellor wept after Sir Keir Starmer gutted his welfare reforms on Tuesday night to avoid an embarrassing defeat on the legislation. The about-turn has blown a £5bn hole in Ms Reeves's budget. Ms Laud said: 'The changes we have seen ever since the first announcements from the Labour Party - and the intended changes they wanted to put forward - have subsequently been either watered down or changed. 'That's what the bond market does not like. The reaction in the gilt market yesterday [shows] that there clearly is an unwillingness to accept that lack of clarity.' 'Flashback to days of Liz Truss' She added that traders were still nervous after Liz Truss's mini-Budget. She said: 'There's heightened sensitivity in the UK because of what happened in 2022, where you had unfunded fiscal promises.' Ms Laud's comments come as Sir Keir and Ms Reeves scramble to repair the damage done this week. The Chancellor made a surprise appearance alongside the Prime Minister at an event on Thursday, at which she insisted she remained committed to her fiscal rules. The Prime Minister also said Ms Reeves would remain Chancellor 'for many years to come'. Borrowing costs dipped in response but remain higher than where they were just days ago. David Roberts, at Nedgroup Investments, said the bond market turmoil was a 'flashback to the days of Liz Truss'. 'Having been elected on a mandate to sort out public finances, to rein in benefit spending, it appears many in the [Labour] party have decided to return to their traditional tax and spend ideology,' he said. 'Failure to push through welfare reform whilst adhering to fiscal rules seems to leave the Government with little option other than to raise taxes.' Morgan Stanley warned that the struggling Chancellor could be as much as £30bn in the red against her fiscal rules ahead of the autumn Budget. With limited room to borrow or cut spending, 'tax hikes look most likely,' the bank said. Sir Keir's failure to grasp the nettle of welfare reform means Britain will spend £1.5bn a week on health and disability benefits for working-age adults by the end of the decade. The bill is on course to balloon to £75.7bn by 2029-30, up by one quarter from £60.4bn this year. It puts the cost of this portion of the welfare state on a par with the defence budget.
The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump and Putin speak after Pentagon stops Ukraine missile shipments
President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are speaking by phone on Thursday after a top U.S. defense official ordered a halt to arms shipments to Ukraine that would have been used to defend against invading Russian forces. Trump announced the call on his Truth Social account and said the conversation would take place at 10:00 am ET. The last time the two leaders spoke was on June 14, amid the Israeli-Iranian conflict that ended after Trump ordered U.S. bombers to attack a trio of Iranian nuclear sites and subsequently negotiated a ceasefire between the two nations. Ten days before that, they also spoke on the same topic, at which point Putin had offered to assist in the then-ongoing U.S. nuclear talks with Tehran. The call between Trump and Putin comes just one day after Washington indirectly aided Putin's war effort against Ukraine by suspending some shipments of air defense missiles, artillery shells and other weapons as part of what Pentagon officials have described as a pause of arms shipments globally while the U.S. replenishes its own stockpiles. The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds, all of which are needed by Ukraine's defense forces. Elbridge Colby, the U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for policy, said in a statement that the decision to halt some weapons comes as Pentagon officials have aimed to provide Trump 'with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.' 'At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces' readiness for administration defense priorities,' Colby added. The pause has coincided with a massive Russian air assault on Ukraine that has required the expenditure of many of the Patriot interceptor missiles already allocated to Kyiv. It also contradicts President Trump's promise to examine providing yet more Patriots to Ukraine at last month's NATO summit in The Hague. At a press conference, the president said he wasn't ruling out a new defense assistance package for Kyiv. He told reporters 'we'll see what happens' when asked whether the U.S. would contribute anything on top of the $8 billion pledged by NATO allies as part of the 32-member bloc's continued support for Ukraine's war effort. Speaking on the heels of a closed-door sit-down with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Trump said there has been 'a lot of spirit' in Ukraine's fight against the invasion Putin ordered in February 2022. Trump also appeared to shift blame for the continuation and escalation of the war to Putin, marking a dramatic reversal from how he characterized the situation during a contentious Oval Office meeting with Zelensky earlier this year. 'Vladimir Putin really has to end that war,' the president said. 'People are dying at levels that people haven't seen before for a long time.' He recounted to reporters how he'd rebuked Putin during a recent phone call after the Russian leader offered to mediate an end to hostilities between Israel and Iran, stressing he would rather he brought an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Trump's relationship with Putin has appeared to sour in recent months as the Russian dictator has continued to pound civilian targets in Ukraine with drones and missiles, killing thousands and complicating efforts by Trump to cajole both sides to the negotiating table. In April, he became so irate over Putin's attacks on civilians that he took to Truth Social to exhort the Russian leader to halt the attacks and get to the negotiating table, writing: 'Vladimir, STOP! 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the Peace Deal DONE!' Since then, he has floated the possibility of imposing harsh new sanctions on Moscow if Putin refuses to cooperate in the U.S.-led efforts to bring about a settlement in the three-year-old conflict.
