CUTTING Angela Rayner loose will not end the trouble she has caused Sir Keir Starmer – in fact it could get a whole lot worse.

Millions of appalled voters will rightly expect her to scurry sheepishly off into the deep freeze along with any future ambitions.

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But to her legions of militant supporters, she is far from a busted flush – she is a martyr, and soon quite possibly their Red Queen over the water.

It is no secret Rayner is far to the left of Starmer, and that theirs has always been a tricky forced political marriage.

Remember when Sir Keir tried to clip her wings in 2021 only to end up giving her a promotion after she kicked off big time?

Now outside the Cabinet tent – and with no real sense of loyalty to the PM – she could turn from his right-hand woman into a right old headache.

Many in the Labour tribe are already furious with Starmer for turning his back on the left-wing causes he once championed.

From welfare, to taxes, to migration, there is no shortage of issues on which soft-left MPs are ready to scrap with No10.

As the PM tries to stem the bleeding to Reform with more hardline policies, those rows will only intensify.

Especially given Jeremy Corbyn’s new rabble and the Greens threaten to sap voters from Labour’s leftward flank.

In this looming battle for the soul of the party, it is easy to see Rayner emerging as the socialists’ standard bearer.

With the might of the unions and members also on her side, Rayner could quickly accumulate a large powerbase.

Maybe one even big enough to mobilise against her old boss.

Think of the grief Boris Johnson or Nigel Lawson caused Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher from the backbenches, leading to their downfalls.

Starmer had no choice but to push Rayner out.

Her fate was set as soon as Sir Laurie Magnus threw the book at her for breaking the ministerial code.

In this looming battle for the soul of the party, it is easy to see Rayner emerging as the socialists’ standard bearer

His gushing, personal, hand-written goodbye note is as clear a sign as any that he wanted to give her the heave-ho in as gentle a way as possible.

But it might not stay friendly for long.