A Daily Mail opinion column published Tuesday charged that the contest to replace Labour's deputy leader has been steered by Downing Street and senior party figures to favor a continuity candidate, after Angela Rayner’s resignation.
In a column headlined "Control freak Starmer fears he can't trust his own party," columnist Dan Hodges wrote that aides in No.10 have rushed to influence the contest, including by offering roles to potential challengers and setting a shortened nominations timetable that, he said, made it difficult for challengers to reach the required threshold.
Hodges wrote that the effort included offers of positions to MPs who might otherwise run: he said Lisa Nandy was handed a last-minute reprieve as culture secretary, and that former foreign secretary David Lammy was presented with the sinecure of deputy prime minister after a reported demotion. The column also said education secretary Bridget Phillipson was persuaded to stand as what Hodges called a "continuity" candidate, despite having told friends she did not intend to submit her name.
The piece said party officials set a truncated timetable that gave potential contenders three days to secure an 80-nomination backing to make the ballot. Hodges argued that the combination of short deadlines and offers to MPs was intended to limit the field and ensure a predictable result.
Hodges framed those developments as evidence that Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who, the column noted, campaigned on changing Labour and argued he had returned the party to the service of working people — does not trust his own party to choose a deputy. The column also suggested Starmer felt no obligation to offer the eventual winner a Cabinet seat, and that the National Executive Committee could have suspended the post for the parliamentary term to avoid the contest altogether.
The column named MPs Lucy Powell and Emily Thornberry as the only independent challengers with a credible chance of reaching the ballot, and contrasted the current approach with past leadership contests. Hodges recalled that Tony Blair allowed a contest between John Prescott and Margaret Beckett for deputy leader and that Gordon Brown presided over a six-candidate contest in 2007, using those examples to argue that past leaders had permitted more open contests.
Hodges also cited — as reported in his column — a Guardian poll he said showed Starmer's personal approval rating lagging behind most Western leaders. He wrote that internal dissent and the emergence of rival parties on Labour's left and right made an open contest potentially meaningful for the party's direction.
The column is an opinion piece and presents Hodges's interpretation of recent developments within Labour. It characterizes the moves as signs of internal weakness and of No.10 "stitching up" the contest; those are the columnist's judgments rather than confirmed party strategy. The article did not include direct responses from Labour or Downing Street.
Labour has not published formal details in the piece about any offers made to MPs or about private discussions inside No.10. The party's internal processes for deputy leadership selection and the role of the National Executive Committee remain matters of party procedure and public scrutiny as the contest proceeds.
The deputy leadership election follows Rayner's resignation and comes at a time when commentators and party members are debating Labour's direction after its recent election victory. Hodges wrote that the episode highlights tensions between the leadership and elements of the party membership; his column recommended a more open contest as a check on centralized control. As an opinion column, it reflects the columnist's perspective on intra-party manoeuvring rather than an independent investigative report.