With Burnham blocked, Labour’s attention turns back to Angela Rayner

Keir Starmer's former number two will be a focus of the renewed speculation about party's future leadership

The political world abhors a vacuum of intrigue and gossip. The scuppering of Andy Burnham's return to Westminster has therefore brought renewed attention to other potential successors to Keir Starmer. That is in turn likely to involve renewed scrutiny of Angela Rayner.

Starmer's former number two and housing secretary has been quietly loyal since she resigned as a minister nearly five months ago after what she said was the inadvertent underpayment of stamp duty on a flat in Hove.