Who is popular today?

If Labour wins the next election, this working-class, passionate, voluble woman will be the second most powerful person in the land. Ahead of two crucial byelections, she talks about her ‘feral’ childhood, ‘pragmatic’ socialism, and why some Tory colleagues are scared of herIn Angela Rayner’s small and cluttered Westminster office, the functional and the homely coexist in an uneasy alliance. In one corner, an assortment of dresses, tops and jackets hangs on a small rail between a desktop printer and an ornately framed mirror. A large sofa takes up a lot of space, while two matching green armchairs face her desk, in front of which stands a huge electric fan – “When it gets really hot,” she says, laughing, “Ginger from Manchester starts to wilt.”Several pairs of high-heel shoes sit by the sofa and a pair of pink polka-dot slip-ons nestle on the floor. Her choice of footwear has been a preoccupation of the tabloids, who have reported gleefully on her lace-up platforms, Kung Fu Panda heels and, most infamously, the Star Wars-themed creations she pre-ordered and didn’t receive. “I love shoes,” she tells me, “because, growing up, I had one pair of bog-standard black shoes with steel toecaps that my nana thought would last me and I got bullied for them.” Continue reading...