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Angela Rayner’s career took her from being a teenage mother in a council estate in Stockport to Deputy Prime Minister.
She quit the role on September 5 after she was found to have breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.
She told Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer: “The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help.”
Here, we take a look back at her career in front-line politics:
For many supporters, Ms Rayner exemplified traditional Labour values, and once described herself as ‘John Prescott in a skirt’ (PA)PA Archive
Her political journey took her from leaving school at the age of 16 to being touted as a possible replacement for Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister (PA)PA Wire
With a red rose tattoo, she was seen as typifying traditional Labour values (Jonathan Brady/PA)PA ArchiveMs Rayner was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour leadership contest. Mr Corbyn went on to win the contest convincingly and was leader of the opposition until 2020, leading the party during the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU and general elections in 2017 and 2019.
Ms Rayner came to prominence under then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (PA)PA Archive
Ms Rayner and Sir Keir emerged as prominent Labour figures during the Corbyn years (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA Archive
Ms Rayner, pictured here with Mr Corbyn, campaigned hard against poverty (PA)PA Archive
She became deputy leader of the Labour Party in 2020 (PA)PA Archive
Ms Rayner criticised the then-Tory government’s 1% pay proposal for NHS workers (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA Archive
She left a floral tribute at the bandstand in Clapham Common, London, for murdered Sarah Everard in 2021, a crime that shocked the nation (Jonathan Brady/PA)PA Archive
Sir Keir and Ms Rayner led Labour into the 2024 general election (Stefan Rousseau/PA)PA Archive
Labour, with Ms Rayner as its deputy leader, were a government-in-waiting in 2024 as the Tories staggered towards defeat (PA)PA ArchiveA strong and effective campaigner, Ms Rayner alongside Sir Keir, took an uncompromising stance on transgressions of the ministerial code while in opposition, which is likely to have contributed to her position as deputy prime minister becoming untenable.
She took on then-Commons leader Penny Mordaunt in a live BBC debate during the general election campaign (PA)PA Archive
Ms Rayner was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, following Labour’s landslide General Election victory last July (Lucy North/PA)PA Archive
She met the King as part of violence reduction drive (Jane Barlow/PA)PA Archive
A storm blew up over her tax affairs (Andrew Milligan/PA)PA Wire
She took part in a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street just this week – resigning on Friday and triggering a Cabinet reshuffle (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire
Graffiti daubed outside the apartment building in Hove, East Sussex, where Ms Rayner owns a second home (Gareth Fuller/PA)PA Wire