Angela Rayner was all smiles as she sat for a new haircut in a video while Sir Keir Starmer‘s Number 10 operation imploded with the resignation of his righthand man.
The former deputy prime minister enjoyed a blow dry and copper colour treatment to get herself ‘camera ready’, as reports grow that she is making leadership manoeuvres behind the scenes.
Ms Rayner requested ‘the usual’ from her hairdresser in footage posted to TikTok – which meant touching up her roots with semi-permanent dye and a minor trim to leave her ‘feathery’ at the front.
The clip was posted hours before Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney quit Downing Street amid the fallout from further revelations about Peter Mandelson‘s relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It is not clear when the video was recorded.
McSweeney said he took ‘full responsibility’ for the decision to appoint Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the United States, and admitted it was ‘wrong’.
But with many Labour MPs openly questioning Starmer’s chances of remaining prime minister, attention is turning towards the cluster of candidates who could viably replace him.
Principal among them is Ms Rayner, who demonstrated her willingness to take on Starmer during an extraordinary Commons session this week.
She demanded Number 10 hand over files relating to Mandelson’s appointment to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).
Angela Rayner got a new haircut in a video posted to TikTok hours before Morgan McSweeney’s resignation
Ms Rayner beamed as she admired her new coiffure
Initially, Starmer had proposed that civil servants should decide which files could be released and which should be held back on national security grounds – but he was forced to capitulate and handed over the material to the ISC.
Ms Rayner took up the role of Starmer’s deputy prime minister when Labour seized power in the summer of 2024, but resigned in September 2025 after she was found to have breached ministerial code by failing to pay a £40,000 stamp duty bill on a flat she purchased.
She is said to now be on leadership ‘manoeuvres’ to get herself the best possible chance at power, should Starmer step down.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Armed Forces minister Al Carns and Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell are also seen as possible replacements for Sir Keir.
Mr McSweeney’s exit followed reports that both Ms Rayner and David Lammy, the Deputy PM, had warned Sir Keir not to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador.
When Pat McFadden, Starmer’s Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, was asked about these reports, he told Sky News: ‘It’s up to them. They’re over 21, you know, they’ll have to answer for themselves on what they’re saying.’
An Opinium poll found 55 per cent of the public think Sir Keir should resign, with only a quarter (23 per cent) believing he should remain in post.
Meanwhile, the PM’s approval ratings remain very low with just 17 per cent approving of Sir Keir’s performance – compared to 61 per cent who disapprove.
This gives the PM an overall approval rating of -44, down three points from Opinium’s previous survey.
Morgan McSweeney, left, resigned as Starmer’s chief of staff this afternoon
It means Sir Keir is more unpopular than all the other major party leaders, including Mrs Badenoch (-9), Reform UK’s Nigel Farage (-11), Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey (-3), and the Green’s Zack Polanski (-3).
A majority of the public (56 per cent) believe Sir Keir should have anticipated the controversy before appointing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador and should not have appointed him.
Only 15 per cent believe the decision was reasonable based on what was known at the time.
Friends of Ms Rayner and potential leadership rival Mr Streeting exchanged bitter remarks amid speculation about a possible contest to replace Sir Keir.
Lord Blunkett told BBC Radio 4: ‘Things are dire. But they’re made more difficult from briefings and counter-briefings.
‘When people see a party acting like ferrets in a sack they draw their conclusions. Once again let’s try and get our act together and speak with a common voice about what we’re about.’
Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika claimed a ‘male power structure’ was the reason why her party had been ‘so seduced’ by Lord Mandelson over the years.
‘He was, you know, seduced by wealth and power and men with yachts and all the culture that goes with that,’ she told Sky News.
‘That is why he got given the job (as US ambassador), because the calculation was these are the slightly tawdry circles in which the US President (Donald Trump) moves.
‘And we need a guy that, you know, swims in these pools, sits in these hot tubs, if you like, with these big guys, they can do business together.
‘And that transactional thought was put over the victims of sex abuse.’
Mr McFadden suggested the focus on Mr McSweeney’s role in Lord Mandelson’s appointment was ‘beside the point’, as he defended both Mr McSweeney and Sir Keir.
‘In the end, it’s a prime ministerial appointment, and I think the stuff about Morgan McSweeney is sort of beside the point,’ the Cabinet minister said.
It has also been revealed that Lord Mandelson received a five-figure payout when he was sacked from the role in September last year.