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An unfinished website claiming to launch Angela Rayner’s Labour leadership campaign was published temporarily in January, prompting further speculation that the former deputy prime minister could be gearing up for a contest to replace Keir Starmer.
The Guardian was alerted to the website, which appeared to be under construction, by a source in the IT industry – before the US Department of Justice’s latest release of documents on Jeffrey Epstein threw the UK government into disarray. It was published, seemingly by accident, on a “staging site”, before being removed from the internet.
The domain name angelaforleader.co.uk was registered within minutes of the apparent publishing error, at 9.48am on 27 January, with the same company – Webfusion – as her official parliamentary site.
Rayner has denied any links to the website, with her team dismissing it as a “fake” that had neither been commissioned by her, nor with her knowledge, while one ally described it as a “false flag” operation.
The news comes with Starmer’s position under severe pressure after the departure of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and calls for his resignation from Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland. The prime minister has struggled to contain anger over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, with some within the Labour party asking who might take over should he be brought down by the scandal.
Sources have told the Guardian that Rayner has been planning for a potential leadership campaign for months, including conducting private polling, raising funds and discussing strategy. However, allies insisted she had no intention of moving against Starmer.
One ally suggested the site might have been created with the intention of leaking it online in an effort to damage her chances of a future leadership bid. “This is a crass false-flag operation, obviously designed to undermine Angela. These sort of by-the-playbook dirty tricks would be laughable if this wasn’t so serious.”
But there was no indication that the site had been deliberately shared or leaked to journalists or political figures. The Guardian’s source appears to have chanced upon the page during a brief window of availability and it has not emerged via other routes in almost two weeks.
The website’s appearance comes at a moment of opportunity and risk for Rayner, whose ambitions must be balanced against the danger of appearing to undermine the prime minister at a moment of vulnerability.
On Friday, the Daily Mail reported suggestions that Rayner had told friends she “will be ready” to run should Starmer be forced to resign. A spokesperson for the Ashton-under-Lyne MP rejected that claim. There have even been claims that her decision to get a haircut was taken with leadership ambitions in mind.
Some have viewed her intervention in the row over the release of documents relating to Mandelson’s appointment as evidence of an attempt to position herself as an alternative as leader. Rayner’s camp has insisted she merely sought to help the government through a burgeoning crisis.
She said she had warned Starmer privately that the appointment would be a mistake because of evidence Mandelson had retained his links with Epstein post-conviction, according to reports.
Rayner’s stock has risen among MPs in the last few months as she has spoken out to nudge the government on policy areas she views as her legacies, such as employment rights and leasehold reform, which are also popular with the Labour membership.
The draft website featured pictures of the senior Labour politician along with the words: “Angela Rayner is running for leader to fight for working-class Britain.” It had an endorsements page, as well as a form for party members to join her campaign and list their local constituency party.
It opened with the words “Meet Angela” set against a red background, with the subheading: “From care worker to deputy prime minister – Angela Rayner’s story is the story of working-class Britain.” It was not clear for how long the site was live.
The menu across the top of the page had links including an offer to party members to “get involved” – and then a yellow button for supporters to click to “join the campaign”.
As the reader scrolled down the screen, it featured a picture of Rayner speaking at a podium, alongside the headline “Why she’s running” with placeholder content “about Angela’s vision for the Labour party and why she believes she is the right person to lead”, as well as “her commitment to working people and transforming Britain”.
The next section began with an image of the former deputy prime minister in conversation, with short biographical details of her early life, her time as a care worker and trade unionist, and then her political career.
This included her entering parliament in 2015, rising through the ranks to become shadow education secretary, being elected deputy leader to Starmer in 2020 and then becoming deputy prime minister after Labour’s election victory in 2024.
There was a further link to read Rayner’s “vision for Britain”, although the website was taken down before the Guardian had the chance to do so. The final page visible was titled: “The movement is uniting behind Angela,” with a page for endorsements. The working example was “Joe Bloggs, MP for Whatever”.
Political advisers privately admit that any ambitious politician must prepare for a possible leadership contest long before it is publicly acceptable to do so. In some cases, supporters may seek to pave the way for a campaign without the direct involvement of the candidate themselves.
Rayner’s team denied the site was in any way linked to the former deputy prime minister. A spokesperson said: “This fake website has nothing to do with Angela. It was not commissioned by her or with her knowledge. She will take legal advice given the use of her name and image without her consent.”
The prime minister has publicly said he would welcome Rayner’s return to cabinet at some point, while she has suggested she would like to be back on the political frontline, privately telling supporters at a recent fundraising dinner: “I’m not dead yet.”
But Rayner also faces the hurdle of an unresolved HMRC investigation into her tax affairs after her resignation as housing secretary last September. Some MPs believe she would not provide the clean slate the party needed.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who is also regarded as a leadership contender, had a close friendship with Mandelson that, after the scandal that blew up last week, could now be a significant liability, meaning there is not an obvious successor ready to move should Starmer leave.
