Sir Keir Starmer has declined to give Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, a permanent seat on the National Security Council despite Sue Gray, his former chief of staff, having attended the committee. Details published on Thursday show there is no permanent seat for Ms Rayner on the NSC, marking a break from former practice.
The committee, led by the Prime Minister, includes Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, Lord Hermer, the Attorney General and Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden. Ms Gray also attended the meetings in her former post as Sir Keir’s chief of staff, it has been reported.
Previous deputy prime ministers have been permanent members of the group since it was established by David Cameron in 2010. The only exception was Therese Coffey, who served as deputy during Liz Truss’ brief tenure in Downing Street. Ms Truss abolished the NSC to set up a larger foreign policy and security committee instead, with Ms Coffey as the deputy leader.
Other ministers, including Ms Rayner, may be invited to attend according to the NSC’s agenda. She also sits on the larger National Security Council (Resilience) committee, led by Mr McFadden.
Downing Street denied Ms Rayner had been “snubbed”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Thursday: “All Cabinet committees include a range of secretaries of state, usually relevant to their portfolio.”
“As you can see on the list of attendees meeting, attendees are not fixed and ministers are always invited according to the specific agenda of the meeting.”
Ms Rayner is also a member of Cabinet committees that are focused on home and economic affairs, and leads the future of work committee to oversee the Government’s reforms to employment law.
In July, allies of the Ms Rayner told The Telegraph they feared she was being “frozen out” after having been identified as the biggest potential threat to Sir Keir. Polling revealed Ms Rayner to be the most popular choice among Labour voters to succeed him, and she has a strong following on the Left of the party because of her history within the trade union movement.
