Labour set for civil war if Angela Rayner forced to quit over council house furore

Labour is facing a vicious civil war that could kill off Sir Keir Starmer’s hopes of a landslide election victory. Left-wingers are poised to launch a bid for the deputy leadership if Angela Rayner is forced to quit over her property dealings.

It raises the prospect of a summer of bitter infighting to stop a Corbynista winning a seat at the top table. MPs on the far Left of the party have already started discussions over who they can unite behind for the elected post.

In a further blow to Labour chief Sir Keir, pro-Palestinian activists are to stand against Labour candidates in at least eight key seats at the next election.

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting and culture spokeswoman Thangam Debbonaire are both high-risk targets.

A senior Labour source warned it was “an extremely dangerous moment” for Sir Keir. The source admitted Left-wingers have a “big chance” if the row over Ms Rayner’s council house sale leads to her resignation.

Greater Manchester Police has launched an investigation into claims she broke electoral law over her former home.

She is confident she has done nothing wrong but has pledged to stand down if she has committed a criminal offence.

A senior Labour MP said: “Hard-Left activists are not stupid. They are already organising.

“It perhaps explains why Keir is so keen to keep Angela in place despite all the media attention. He can’t afford the risk of having a hard-Left deputy, or even the damage that a long-running deputy leadership contest will cause.”

The source warned that Labour’s poll lead is “extremely soft” and voiced concern that voters will be turned off by the spectacle of a Labour “civil war” and “blood-letting” with party members “ripping each other apart”.

Sir Keir stripped former leader Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour whip, but the MP warned the hard Left is still a powerful force in the party.

The MP said: “They have never gone away. This is the big thing.

“Keir has told everybody for so long we’ve purged them, we’ve got rid of them. You go to any constituency Labour Party, they are still there.”

The MP added that Mr Corbyn’s supporters demonstrated their campaigning skills in the 2015 and 2016 leadership elections, saying: “They do have some very talented IT people there and they are going to come back on board.”

A Labour Left insider predicted that if there is a vacancy for the deputy leadership Zarah Sultana, co-chairwoman of the Socialist Campaign Group, would be a strong contender for the role. She has 444,000 followers on TikTok and 316,000 on Instagram.

“You’d see the Left coalesce around Zarah Sultana,” they said.

However, Mr Corbyn’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has high name recognition and commands respect.

An MP on the Right of Labour said: “If I was in the Campaign Group I would be pushing for McDonnell because nobody else has got the reach he’s got.”

Sir Keir has angered the Left by not pushing harder for Israel to halt its attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza – and pro-Palestinian campaigners are working to defeat Labour candidates.

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting – one of the highest-profile MPs on the Right of the party, who had a majority of just 5,198 at the last election – faces a challenge from Leanne Mohamad. She has raised more than £25,500 through a crowd-funding campaign.

In the West Midlands, Labour fears more than 30,000 of its supporters could back pro-Gaza independent mayoral candidate Akhmed Yakoob – enough to hand victory to Tory incumbent mayor Andy Street. Mr Yakoob’s mayoral bid will boost his profile ahead of the general election, when he plans to stand against Shadow Justice Secretary and key Sir Keir ally Shabana Mahmood.

In a further challenge, Left-winger Jamie Driscoll, who was elected as Labour mayor of Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland in 2019, is now standing as an independent candidate for the new role of North East Mayor.

He and Ms Mohamad have received backing from the “We Deserve Better” funding campaign spearheaded by Left-wing journalist Owen Jones, who quit Labour last month. It has also donated £5,000 to Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, who plans to stand against Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire in Bristol Central.

Tories say Sir Keir is desperate to avoid a deputy leadership contest – and a senior Labour source said it is not certain one would be held before the election if Ms Rayner steps down.

Conservative deputy chairman Jonathan Gullis said: “After all Starmer’s claims about changing the Labour Party, nothing has changed. Far left extremism is still running rife in Labour, so much so that Sir Keir will do anything to avoid a deputy leadership election that would expose the splits in his Party over Gaza.”

According to Betfair, Ms Rayner was once the 3/1 favourite to succeed Sir Keir but her odds have dropped to 41/1 – far behind the likes of Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (10/1), Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves (9/1) and Mayor Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (7/1).

Conservative MP Marco Longhi said: “The hard Left continues to be a real danger to Britain. I shudder to think of what would have happened if Jeremy Corbyn was in Downing Street at a time when Russia is at war in Europe and the Middle East is in flames.”