10 November 2023 , 21:00
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Angela Rayner has called time on her relationship with fellow Labour MP Sam Tarry.
The Deputy Leader appeared in the House of Commons on Wednesday just hours after the break up. Ms Rayner, 43, who previously described Mr Tarry, 41, as her “soulmate”, has told friends she wants to start a new chapter.
As she led Labour’s response on the second day of debate on the King’s Speech, she showed no sign of what she was going through behind the scenes. It is understood the pair split up the day before. In a fiery attack on Rishi Sunak, she warned the Prime Minister is “too weak to deliver the change our country needs”.
A friend said: “She’s been through a lot in her life but Ange is as tough as nails. You saw that this week, when she put her secret heartache aside and took the charge to the Tories at the despatch box.”
Another pal added: “Ange has a lot of friends right across the Labour Party looking out for her. They’ve really rallied round. Breaking up is never easy but she’s bouncing back and getting on with the job of representing people. She’ll take this in her stride.”
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In April, Ms Rayner paid tribute to Mr Tarry as she spoke at a fundraising dinner in his Ilford South constituency where he has been the MP since 2019, saying: “He is one of the most kind-hearted, amazing individuals and he’s also my soulmate.” A friend of Ms Rayner's said: “Sometimes people turn out not to be who you thought they were.”
A friend close to Mr Tarry said: “Sam has been through a huge amount in his personal life and in Westminster over the past few years and will now have the time and space to focus on his own political projects. He asks that all of his family have their privacy respected.”
Mr Tarry was sacked as a Labour shadow minister by Keir Starmer last July after he was accused of giving a TV interview from a picket line outside a railway station during train strikes without permission from the party leadership. He was deselected by local Labour members in Ilford South last October when they voted for a rival candidate to contest the seat at the next general election.
Ms Rayner is the most senior woman in the Labour Party and will become Deputy Prime Minister if they take power at the election. The former care worker and union official entered Parliament in 2015 when she became the first woman MP in the 180-year history of her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency. After serving on the Labour frontbench as Shadow Education Secretary she was elected as the party’s Deputy Leader in 2020.
In September, she was appointed by Mr Starmer as Shadow Levelling Up Secretary in a reshuffle aimed at putting the "strongest possible players on the pitch" ahead of the next election.
Ms Rayner, who has three sons, married union official Mark Rayner in 2010. The couple separated in 2020. At the age of 37, she became a grandmother, giving herself the nickname, "Grangela".