Is Angela Rayner positioning herself for a Starmer succession race?

Whoever leaked deputy PM's memo to the Telegraph, some believe it will have helped her leadership chances

What is Angela Rayner up to? To every Labour MP reading the leaked memo in the Daily Telegraph setting out the deputy prime minister's alternative tax-raising measures, it felt like firing the starting gun on a race to succeed Keir Starmer as leader.

It has infuriated Starmer loyalists because of long memories of the breakdown in relations after Labour lost the Hartlepool byelection just a year into Starmer's leadership, when he considered quitting and allies of Rayner encouraged her to stand against him. Starmer then attempted to demote her, leading to a fierce standoff and Rayner emerging with a clutch of new job titles.