Ms Rayner, 41, is believed to have become close to the 39-year-old Ilford South MP after he ran her campaign to become Labour’s deputy leader.

Sir Keir has been accused of using his House Commons office for party political campaigning via Zoom, in ‘Call Keir’ chats with activists.

Insiders say the Labour leader will increasingly take Rachel Reeves’s counsel over deputy leader Angela Rayner’s and appear more with the Shadow Chancellor at key UK public events.

Jeremy Corbyn said Angela Rayner had ‘nothing to apologise for’ after she branded Boris Johnson and ministers ‘a bunch of scum’ at Labour’s conference.

Angela Rayner launched the extraordinary attack on Conservatives during an event for activists at the Labour conference in Brighton last night.

Angela Rayner said she would not say no to become prime minister on Saturday ahead of the first day of the Labour party conference in Brighton.

Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of Labour, also said Sir Keir Starmer was the ‘right person’ to lead the party in an election but admitted he could ‘lose the tie… because he might come across as a lawyer’.

Merkel blames the poison attack on the Kremlin and has called for Navalny’s release since he was jailed in February, weeks after his return from Germany. Putin denies the poisoning.

ANGELA MOLLARD: Two months ago, I was in the idyllic beachside resort of Byron Bay in Eastern Australia, enjoying a Greek-themed 50th birthday party for 100 people.

Hans-Georg Maassen, who previously ran the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany for six years, said the country is being led into a decline by Mrs Merkel.