News | Politics I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice . When Sir Keir Starmer was asked if he was a socialist, there was a momentary pause before he replied “yes”.
When the same question was put to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves , she chose instead to describe herself as a social democrat. With Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner there were no such hesitations or equivocations as she readily affirmed her socialist credentials – and for good measure suggested that Ms Reeves is really a believer too. As the party’s new Red Queen, many will now be looking to her – like John Prescott before her – to stand as guardian of its traditional values in the face of a modernising leadership.
Certainly, the parallels with the Blair-Prescott era are striking. Like her predecessor, she worked her way up the hard way, leaving school at 16 and cutting her teeth as a trade union official before embarking on a career in parliament. While she has not actually hit any voters, as the pugnacious Mr Prescott famously did, she has not been afraid to engage in old-fashioned class warfare, once describing the Conservatives as “a bunch of scum”.
As with Tony Blair and Mr Prescott, there have been tensions with her lawyerly leader – Sir Keir once tried to demote her, only to end up vastly extending the range of her shadow cabinet responsibilities. She is now set to take charge of one of the most contentious elements of t.
