Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves, two leading figures in the Starmer government

3 min

With Labour’s victory in the British general election, she became one of the most powerful women in the country. United KingdomHowever, nothing predestined Angela Rayner to become number two in the government, she who left school as a teenager without a diploma.

Angela Rayner was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Housing and Territorial Rebalancing on Friday 5 July. In a country where the British ruling class has overwhelmingly passed through the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, this 44-year-old woman stands out.

She grew up in Stockport, in the north of England, in social housing. From a young age, she looked after her bipolar, illiterate mother who didn’t work. Her father was mostly away. As a child, hot baths were only on Sundays at her grandmother’s, and to get full meals, she made sure to be invited to friends’ houses.

” Angie “, as many call her, left school without a degree and, at 16, found herself a single mother. A few years later, she had another child, a very premature baby who is almost blind. I have a PhD in “real life” “, she sums up. “ These challenges have not broken me. I know what my strengths are. »

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Angela Rayner is instantly recognizable, with her trademark long red hair and bangs, and her popular northern English accent. There is also her determined gait, as if nothing could stop her. Since 2020, she has held the second place in the leadership of the Labour Party. Labour’s victory in the general election propelled her to number two in the government led by Keir Starmercompared to which it is located much further to the left.

Rachel Reeves, first woman to become Minister of Finance

Rachel Reeves, a former economist at the Bank of England, has been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, the first woman to hold the post. Downing Street announced in a statement that she has been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, her traditional title.

The new Minister of Finance, who believes that ” change will only come with iron discipline ” on public finances, stressed on the night of Thursday to Friday, after having been re-elected as MP in the north of England, that her task would not be “ not easy “. ” There is no magic bullet and difficult choices lie ahead. “, added the woman who has also been hammering home for months that Labour is now “ the natural party of businesses “.

Before the Labour victory, Rachel Reeves had said she wanted to break the ” last glass ceiling in politics “, becoming the first woman to hold the second most prestigious post in the British government, a venerable office that has existed for 800 years. Now it has been done.

The new Labour government will have limited room to manoeuvre after 14 turbulent years of Conservative rule. While economic growth is slowly recovering and inflation is back to the Bank of England’s target, public finances are damaged.

After the financial crisis and the purchasing power crisis, through the pandemic, Brexit, and the financial turbulence caused by the short-lived mandate of Liz Truss, as well as governmental instability with five Prime Ministers in 14 years, the Starmer government is also expected to bring stability back to politics and the economy.

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