3 hours ago
7
Angela Rayner is writing a memoir about her rise to become deputy prime minister and her subsequent fall from grace, the Guardian can confirm, in a move that will be seen as an attempt to set the narrative ahead of any leadership contest.
The book, which will detail the Labour politician’s life story from her impoverished childhood and leaving school at 16 while pregnant through the union movement and the Labour party to the second highest office in the land, is to be published in the second half of 2026.
Rayner has kept a relatively low profile since quitting as deputy prime minister in September after failing to pay stamp duty on a flat. She has only intervened publicly on policy issues close to her heart, such as workers’ rights, on which she warned the government not to “blink or buckle” on the bill.
Often considered a potential successor to Keir Starmer, she declined to rule out running for the leadership or returning to frontline politics in her first public comments after stepping down, saying she had “not gone away”.
Earlier this month, Starmer said he would bring her back to the cabinet, while her allies have said she left her role as housing secretary with a much clearer view of how to implement Labour values in government and would be keen to return to do more.
However, they cautioned that she was significantly shaken by the impact on her family of the stamp duty row, and she has yet to hear from HMRC about settling the debt. They said those were key factors in whether she would run in any contest, and they denied she was plotting an imminent challenge.
After a bidding war between several different publishers, the memoir will be released by The Bodley Head, an imprint of Vintage, a division of Penguin Random House UK. Rayner is yet to settle on a title, with a few options under consideration.
Unlike several other notable politicians – thought to include Tony Blair and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who is also regarded as having his eye on the top job – she will use a ghost-writer to capture her plain-speaking style on the page. She will read the audiobook version herself.
Sources said Rayner wanted the book to inspire and encourage others to overcome adversity. A friend said: “There’s been huge interest from publishers. This won’t be your standard politician’s memoir. It will be authentically Angela and in her own voice.”
Alice Skinner, the editorial director at The Bodley Head, who acquired the memoir, said: “We are so delighted and proud to be publishing Angela Rayner. Her book will be unvarnished and upfront – you can expect her authenticity to shine through – and an empowering vision for a fairer, kinder society that will enable everyone to flourish. It will spark change, one reader at a time.”
Starmer, already rocked by leadership speculation in recent months, is approaching a perilous moment at next year’s May elections when Labour is expected to face a disastrous set of results across the country, which would inevitably raise questions about his future. Before her resignation, Rayner was regarded as the frontrunner to succeed him.
