Picture: Angela Rayner, left.

Whilst the blocking of Andy Burnham has the reek of desperation it was a political penectomy on Andy Burnham, so if as expected the results are very bad for Labour in May’s local and devolved elections when Labour MPs will look to oust Starmer then Andy Burnham will not be able to succeed him now who will benefit?

I think the main beneficiaries are going to be Wes Streeting, Shabana Mahmood, and Angela Rayner. I think the first two are the Labour government’s best communicators. based on my conversations with Labour members and activists Angela Rayner still garners a lot of affections despite her problems with her tax minimisation affairs and they are the people who get the final say in the next Labour leadership contest.

It should also be remembered that Labour uses the much superior alternative vote system to elect their leaders and Angela Rayner feels like the most transfer friendly candidate.

I have previously backed all three are decent odds but I still think there’s some value in backing Angela Rayner at 6/1 with William Hill and Shabana Mahmood at 14s on Betfair.

TSE