Rayner frozen out of Burnham’s inner circle

Angela Rayner has been frozen out of Andy Burnham’s inner circle despite securing a prominent role in his new Cabinet, it has been claimed. Several senior Whitehall sources said Rayner tried to slow Burnham’s return to Parliament as she still harboured leadership ambitions of her own, The i Paper has been told. Supporters of Rayner, who returned to frontline politics as Burnham’s Housing Secretary on Monday, strongly deny the claims, pointing to her support for him when he was blocked from running in the Gorton and Denton by-election in January. Shorts No 10 declined to comment. Rayner’s allies dismissed any suggestions of a rift as “silly rumours”, and stressed that she has been given a Cabinet role to deliver on his key priorities. But they do not deny that she is not part of Burnham’s inner circle – which is said to revolve around Louise Haigh, his First Secretary of State, and Anneliese Midgley, his Chief Whip – and admit she was not as intrinsically involved in his Makerfield by-election campaign. Rayner has never been far from the limelight and has often been a lightning conductor for dissent within the party – something Burnham will have likely considered when appointing her to his Cabinet. The i Paper first revealed in May that Rayner had made a secret visit to Haigh – then the backroom power broker after reviving the soft-left Tribune group, which represents more than 100 MPs, to canvas support for her own exploratory PM bid. However, she left empty-handed – leaving many MPs in the caucus to correctly conclude that support from the left flank of the party was instead flowing towards Burnham. Haigh’s refusal to back Rayner came as little surprise – one source suggested there had long been tensions between the two and lingering resentment that Rayner remained a potential leadership contender despite her tax controversy, while Haigh’s own ambitions had been curtailed by scrutiny of a historic spent conviction. Rayner believed she still had a chance to become the emerging favourite among the party’s soft-left if the National Executive Committee blocked Burnham from running a second time, one MP said adding: “She was frustrated that the [Parliamentary Labour Party] were hanging their hopes on Burnham.” Her critics also claimed she hinted to Cabinet colleagues that she could still return to frontline politics as their boss, and word of that got back to Burnham. Rayner supported Burnham by campaigning for him in Makerfield and praising his devolution strategy, although she was absent from some events – including his first major speech as prime minister-in-waiting, which was held in Manchester, a few miles from her seat. Other senior Greater Manchester MPs attended, including Burnham’s deputy leader Lucy Powell and Starmer’s chief whip Jonathan Reynolds. Rayner did not know if she had a job in Burnham’s first Cabinet before she was appointed, her allies said. They previously claimed she had her heart set on becoming education secretary – a role rumoured to have been first offered to former chancellor Rachel Reeves before Powell’s appointment. Those close to Rayner say she is delighted to be back in her old department overseeing the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The new No 10 North unit will lead strategy on devolution and local economic growth, while Rayner’s department will be responsible for the core policy areas of housing, planning, local government and the delivery of devolution. The changes reflect a long-standing argument made by both Rayner and Burnham that the greatest barriers to meaningful devolution often lie within Whitehall itself. Although successive governments have backed devolving power to mayors and local leaders, departments have frequently been reluctant to give up control of funding, policy, and decision-making. Rayner said in a speech earlier this month that the next phase of devolution required not only new powers for local leaders but also a fundamental change in how central government operates. Despite being kept at arm’s length from the new PM’s inner circle, her supporters note that one of Rayner’s longest-running political crusades now sits at the very centre of the Burnham project – and at the heart of government itself.