Angela Rayner 'sniffing blood in the water' as she 'sharpens knife' in plot to topple Keir Starmer

"People like Angela Rayner are sniffing blood in the water and she is obviously sharpening her knives, ready to go after him," he told Camilla.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP is believed to be preparing the ground to launch a leadership bid against her boss in a fiery comeback just a few months after her resignation over her tax affairs.

Ms Rayner is said to be "on manoeuvres" and "getting her ducks in a row", a source close to Ms Rayner told The Telegraph.

Ms Rayner has even started to hand out Cabinet roles to MPs promising to pledge allegiance to her leadership bid, The Telegraph has been told.

Asked whether Sir Keir would still remain in post this time next year on GB News, Mr Philp responded: "Well, I haven't got a crystal ball, but it's looking pretty dicey for Keir Starmer because I think his colleagues are pretty fed up with him. He's doing a terrible job."

Sir Keir has been plummeting in the polls, dropping from a whopping electoral landslide victory in July 2024 to a measly 17 per cent of approval for the party, pollsters at YouGov forecast.

Now, Ms Rayner is said to be drumming up support from the soft-left group Tribune, a pressure group with MPs including the welfare rebellion gang.

Senior figures claim the group has around 70 members but is on track to reach 100 and, as such, is believed to become a powerful vehicle for a leadership hopeful.

The former Housing Secretary was cornered into resigning from her posts in September after she failed to pay £40,000 of stamp duty on her Hove flat.

But, ever since she hung up her Downing Street hat, allies have been whispering murmurs of a political comeback at the same time Wes Streeting has been soaring in the party's favoured ranks.

However, other sources familiar with Ms Rayner binned off the claim as "total rubbish" and maintained that the ex-deputy leader was "focused on representing her local community".

Mr Streeting's name has been thrown up from the parliamentary Labour Party as a possible replacement, although the Health Secretary has refuted the allegations thrown against him.

Last week, No10 was engulfed in the so-called briefing war, when Downing Street officials briefed against leading Cabinet members that Mr Streeting was eyeing up to take Sir Keir's position for himself.

In an attempt thought to strengthen Sir Keir's position, No 10 aides briefed journalists that he would fight any attempt to kick him out and that removing him would hurt the markets.

However, the move backfired.

But a real leadership election could well be on the cards as the first Labour MP has broken ranks to demand the Prime Minister be replaced by Andy Burnham.

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis demanded the leadership change in an interview on Friday night when he declared that the Greater Manchester mayor should return as an MP to "step up and become the next Prime Minister".

Ahead of Labour Party Conference, Mr Burnham was believed to be one of the first plotters to overthrow Sir Keir by establishing his own left-wing pressure group, Mainstream, to mobilise MPs.

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