Like a number of other women from working class backgrounds, Angela Rayner was the victim of a right wing press witch-hunt. She also broke the Ministerial Code, by failing to seek the appropriate specialist advice on paying the correct stamp duty in relation to her complex housing arrangements. Given her views on the Birmingham bin strike, Palestine and much else, many on the left won’t be heartbroken to see her go. But the move against her was also a move against the voice of trade unions in our Party and many suspect that some on the Party’s right helped fuel the campaign against her.

With the departure of Rayner, the right hope that a Deputy Leader from their own faction will be an insurance policy should they feel the need to move later against Keir Starmer, given his disastrous poll ratings. The problem is that the Deputy Leadership post is elected – and the Party grassroots are to the left of the leadership on key areas of economic policy.

As Phil Burton-Cartledge said recently: “With the cabinet a monochromatic grey of tired, obsolete managerialism, there is every danger the upcoming election might see an outbreak of politics. Of course, the gatekeepers will ensure that no one from the Campaign Group will get a look in. But there is unhappiness on the backbenches.”

The left left out

That unhappiness – at the Government’s benefit cuts, its aping of Reform UK on immigration, its line on Palestine and its authoritarian response to any sign of backbench dissent – is compounded by Starmer’s latest reshuffle which marked a clear shift to the right in the ministers appointed.

This is a blunder on Starmer’s part. If the moderate left of the Party don’t see themselves included in the Government’s ranks, they will feel less inclined to take responsibility for the inevitable bungles and failures to come. Starmer’s Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney has ‘whacked’ enough opponents, mafia-style, to know that the first rule of politics is ‘Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.’ Excluding anyone even remotely left wing from the Government reshuffle is likely to make these backbencher grow more rebellious – in fact, they already are. The Deputy Leadership contest will express that.

As Momentum put it: “This is an opportunity for a well overdue debate about the change of direction the country and Labour so desperately need. We need a full contest, per the Party rulebook, to debate vital points like a wealth tax, an end to the privatisation of our services and action to halt the genocide in Gaza. Any candidate seeking members’ support must commit to restoring basic democratic norms and due process to the Labour Party.”

Vote in haste, repent at leisure

Any such debate now looks like being pretty truncated. Labour’s National Executive Committee has agreed an extremely tight timetable, with just two days for MPs to nominate (Tuesday  9^th to Thursday 11^th September), two weeks for CLPs and affiliated unions to nominate (13^th to 27th September), and two weeks for members and affiliated supporters to vote (8th to 23rd October).

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP said there was a danger of members being “bounced” into a decision. Former Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon MP said the proposal to allow just a couple of days to secure MPs’ nominations was “the mother of all stitch-ups.” He also called for those MPs who had the whip unfairly suspended to be allowed to cast their vote in the election.

The threshold of eighty MPs needed to secure a nomination is high and makes it difficult for someone with a consistently left record to get into the contest. But the Party’s centre-left are getting organised: today a new current, inspired by Compass, was established: Mainstream.

Mainstream

Mainstream says it will push Labour to be bolder by organising within the Party on key economic, social, democratic and environmental issues. It will also provide an open and inclusive space for Labour members. Supporters include Clive Lewis MP, Dawn Butler MP, currently suspended Labour MP Rachael Maskell, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Momentum founder Jon Lansman, former Labour minister John Denham, longstanding human rights campaigner Labour peer Lord Dubs, former MP Sam Tarry, journalist Zoe Williams and academic Jeremy Gilbert.

Andy Burnham told the Guardian: “Mainstream speaks to the change that’s needed, a more inclusive, less factional way of running the party.”

Given the tightly controlled timetable, the opportunity to weigh the merits of individual would-be candidates, let alone have a meaningful policy debate, is limited. A priority for any candidate seeking grassroots support would be a pledge to end the anti-democratic regime currently dominating the Party – removing the Party whip from rebellious MPs, terminating excellent councillors who disagree with the national leadership and short-circuiting selection processes. If members are not to continue to drift away or become demotivated, Party democracy needs to be renewed.

Secondly, any worthwhile candidate must declare themselves to be more in alignment with public and Party opinion on the key economic issues: ending austerity, reversing benefit cuts and the two-child cap, supporting public ownership of water and other key utilities and reversing the privatisation of the NHS.

It would be good as well to see a candidate who has put principle ahead of preferment, by rebelling against at least some of the unpopular and counter-productive measures of the Starmer Government over the last year. These minimal conditions  should not be too hard to meet if we are serious about the ‘change’ that we promised at last year’s general election.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set the Autumn Budget date for 26^th November. If the Government  is serious about tackling the major economic challenges and improving the lives of the vast majority of people – and its own poll ratings – the budget needs to be a game-changer. On the basis of last week’s reshuffle, that looks unlikely. If Starmer’s ratings continue to fall, the upcoming Deputy Leadership race could be a rehearsal for a far more important contest.

Image: Angela Rayner MP. Source: https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/Members/4356/Portrait?cropType=ThreeFour. Author: David Woolfall,  licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.