Overview
- Rayner will spend the next month touring constituencies to back Labour candidates ahead of May’s local elections.
- Allies pitch the tour as a showcase of her "political street fighter" style that they say connects on the doorstep.
- Supporters speculate she could run if Labour performs poorly, with one claiming she has about 80 MPs ready to back her.
- The main hurdle is an open HMRC probe into stamp duty on her £800,000 Hove flat, and her team has sent legal advice arguing the higher rate was not owed.
- She resigned in September after the prime minister’s ethics adviser ruled she broke the ministerial code over the property tax issue.