The issue of Angela Rayner’s tax affairs – which triggered her resignation from government – has been hanging over her head for months, and was seen as a major obstacle to her standing in any potential leadership contest.
But in a statement on Thursday morning, the former deputy prime minister revealed she has been cleared by HMRC of wrongdoing, saying she has been “exonerated” of the accusation she had deliberately sought to avoid tax.
As the threat of a leadership race hangs over the Labour Party, Ms Rayner’s latest intervention is significant.
It clears the way for her to throw her hat into the ring and represent a soft left option for the party, as well as piling further pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to step aside.
She has suggested the beleaguered prime minister shouldn’t fight in any leadership contest, as well as telling the Guardian she understands why colleagues are so upset with the direction of the party in the wake of the disastrous local election results.
While Ms Rayner ruled out triggering a leadership race herself, she crucially didn’t rule out standing in a contest if one was triggered by one of her opponents.
Clearly, she is waiting for Wes Streeting to fire the starting gun in the coming days, or for the prime minister to step aside voluntarily.
What is not yet clear, however, is under what conditions Ms Rayner would stand.
The former deputy prime minister did not rule out endorsing a soft left rival if they had a better chance of success in any contest and argued that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham shouldn’t be blocked from coming back to Parliament – suggesting that the pair could form a pact if he does.
“We cannot afford to be factional about this. We cannot afford to have egos”, she warned.
A Rayner-Burnham pact, with one as leader and the other as chancellor or deputy, would be a formidable force on the left of the party – and would be one that Mr Streeting, seen by many as being too right-wing to win over the membership, would find extremely difficult to beat.
But if Burnham returned and Ms Rayner stood against him anyway, such a move could split the left-wing vote and make it easier for the health secretary to snatch victory.
Crucially, though, Ms Rayner’s intervention has piled further pressure on Sir Keir to step aside and made an imminent leadership contest much more likely.
Mr Streeting will be aware of the threat posed by a combined Rayner-Burnham force, and such a possibility will only put pressure on him to act quickly and trigger a contest before Mr Burnham has a chance to return to Westminster.
With Ms Rayner now waiting in the wings, the next few days are crucial for the health secretary’s hopes of entering Downing Street.
