Sir Keir Starmer ‘absolutely’ wants Angela Rayner back in cabinet

Sir Keir Starmer has said he “absolutely” wants Angela Rayner back in his cabinet after she resigned for failing to pay the correct amount of stamp duty.

Speaking from the G20 Summit in South Africa, the prime minister told broadcasters his former deputy is “the best example ever” of social mobility and he is still in touch with her.

Asked if she could make a comeback this side of a general election, Sir Keir said: “I’ve always said I want Angela back. Even back in September at the time I said she is going to be a big voice in the Labour movement.

“Do I want Angela back at some stage? Yes absolutely.

“I think she is the best example ever in the United Kingdom of social mobility – going from a pretty challenging childhood to being deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom. She is the story of social mobility above all other stories.”

Asked if he missed having her around, Sir Keir said: “I’m friends with Angie and I like Angie a lot and we talk a lot. We still do.

“It’s always good to have Angela.”

Ms Rayner’s meteoric rise to the top of Labour came after she left school aged 16, pregnant and with no qualifications.

She was elected deputy Labour leader by the membership in 2020, and was made deputy prime minister then housing secretary by Sir Keir.

She resigned from all of those positions in September, after it emerged she had not paid the higher rate of stamp duty on a second home she bought in Hove, East Sussex, saving her about £40k.

It followed a tearful interview with Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby about the “complex living arrangement” regarding her first home, which was sold to a trust following her divorce to provide stability for her teenage son, who has lifelong disabilities and is the sole beneficiary of the trust.

An investigation by the prime minister ethic’s watchdog found she breached the ministerial code by failing to get correct tax advice, but that she acted “with integrity”.

Ms Rayner is still a backbench MP and recently did not rule out a return to the front bench herself – telling the Daily Mirror during a visit to a care centre in her constituency that she had “not gone away”.

Other cabinet ministers have also supported her return.

During the Labour Party Conference a few weeks after she resigned, Health Secretary Wes Streeting paid tribute to her work on the Employment Rights Bill and said Labour “wants her back and needs her back”.