Angela Rayner insists ‘soulmate’ boyfriend should remain Labour MP
Sir Keir Starmer comments on Sam Tarry’s sacking
Angela Rayner has lobbied for her “soulmate” boyfriend to remain a Labour MP despite his deselection by members. The deputy Labour leader said she hopes Sam Tarry “continues” and warned it would be an “absolute tragedy” to lose him.
Mr Tarry was blocked from running for the party in Ilford South in a ballot last October as members picked a council leader over him to fight the next general election.
But Ms Rayner made clear she believes Mr Tarry should stay on at a fundraising dinner in his constituency last night.
In comments first reported by Guido Fawkes, the deputy Labour leader said: “If the Labour Party doesn’t stand for fairness then what do we stand for to be quite honest with you?
“We’ve got to challenge ourselves, we’re a big Labour family, and like any family, we can fall out at times and we can have difference of opinions.
“But we’ve got to get rid of the Tories because what they’re doing to this country and the opportunities they’re stealing from the next generation is just absolutely appalling.
“Sam is one of the most kind-hearted, amazing individuals I know and he’s also my soulmate so he’s a really good guy.”
As she received applause, Ms Rayner continued: “And I actually think you’re incredibly lucky to have him as your MP because I get to see a lot of Sam, and I get to see a lot of behind the scenes, and I see how much he cares.
“Most of the conservations he has with me is about the challenges that many people in Ilford face and the passion in which he talks about changing people’s lives, the hours he puts in whether it’s early in the morning or late evening.
“It’s not the things you see him doing on TV, it’s not the things you see him doing in Parliament, it’s every single day he’s on the phone to constituents and trying to fight for them and help.
“That’s what you want from an MP, an MP that really cares about his area, and he really does.
“I hope that he continues because it would be an absolute tragedy for the Labour Party to lose someone like Sam as an MP.”
Mr Tarry has previously claimed that vote that saw his deselection was a “manufactured political circus”.
And last month he vowed to formally challenge the result.
Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last month, he said: “I’m absolutely challenging the integrity of the result, and I fully intend to be standing as a Labour candidate at the next election, absolutely.”
Mr Tarry was sacked as shadow transport minister by Sir Keir Starmer last July after giving a TV interview on the picket line during a rail strike.
Labour frontbenchers had been banned from joining picket lines during the industrial action.
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