The contest was triggered by Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy leader last month over a tax row. Rayner had been Starmer’s deputy since he became leader in 2020.
It marks a comeback for Powell, who was sacked as leader of the House of Commons in the reshuffle prompted by Rayner’s departure from government. Powell will remain on the backbenches and so will be free to speak out against government policies.
She has already argued that Starmer’s government needs to show its values more clearly to the public, including by scrapping a controversial cap on social security payments for families with two or more children. She’s said the contest should be a “course correction” after a tumultuous first year in power for Starmer which left members “frustrated.”
Phillipson, the education secretary since Labour entered power, was widely seen as No. 10’s preferred candidate.
A Labour MP who supported Phillipson, granted anonymity to speak freely, said whether or not Powell would pose a headache to the leadership would now depend on the No. 10 Downing St. response.
There’s a “risk” Powell will be more rebellious if No. 10 “freeze her out,” they added, as they recommended Starmer’s team “bind her to some kind of collective responsibility” with a job such as party chair.
“I think she will want to work with Keir, but I think she will, inevitably, try to be a kind of outlier; she might not always sign up to the line or take the party official line,” predicted a Labour official.
“I think if she doesn’t really tie into the job of government, I think we’ll have a massive problem where she is the outlier, the person with the loudest voice in opposition to some of the difficult decisions the government’s making,” the same official added.
But a second Labour MP, critical of Starmer’s operation and who backed Powell said: “She now has a mandate for trying to get the penny to drop that things can’t go on as they have been with some around Keir.”
