Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, would have people believe she is made in the mould of Barbara Castle, the radical Labour minister, now seen as one of the most significant women politicians of the 20th century. When Rayner was challenged on the BBC’s Today programme that she was more often viewed as a deputy leader like John Prescott, lacking any real power, she dismissed the comparison, replying: ‘I think I’m more of a Barbara Castle.’
This claim comes across as historically and politically illiterate, and a touch cringeworthy. At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, Rayner has a way to go before she can be spoken of in the same breath as a political giant like Castle.
Since Rayner has made the comparison, it is only fair to look at the respective achievements of these two very different Labour figures. Castle, a genuine political freethinker, was one of the best known MPs of her day – in a parliament packed with political heavyweights on all sides – and for a time looked like she might end up as Britain’s first female prime minister.
Rayner has a way to go before she can be spoken of in the same breath as a political giant like Castle
Rayner struggles to stand out in a rather lacklustre shadow cabinet team, and not even her most diehard supporters would bet the mortgage on her becoming Labour leader, let alone prime minister, should Sir Keir Starmer fall under the proverbial bus.
Between 1964-70 and 1974-76, Castle led four major government departments. At transport, she introduced compulsory car seat belts, a national speed limit, and breathalyser tests. These measures were highly controversial and Castle often faced fierce and sometimes blatantly sexist opposition. She was undaunted.
As secretary of state for employment, Castle pushed through the Equal Pay Act, perhaps her greatest policy achievement and legacy. She also showed real political courage in trying to rein in the powers of the union movement, something that was anathema to many of her Labour colleagues. The proposals in her white paper, ‘In Place of Strife’, were doomed from the start and ended up being ignominiously abandoned. Castle’s stance scuppered her chances of ever leading Labour – even so, she was prepared to pay the ultimate price for her principles and beliefs.
Is Rayner a fighter in the same mould, especially when it comes to standing up to vested interests in the Labour movement? Hardly. In her latest speech to the TUC, Rayner was more focused on urging delegates to ‘get the word out’ about what the party is promising unions and workers. Would Castle have been so accommodating?
Europe was another controversial subject on which Castle stood by her beliefs. She was – to her dying days – a staunch euro sceptic. In the 1975 referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Economic Community, Castle was a high profile advocate for leaving.
Rayner backed Remain in the 2016 referendum but it is anyone’s guess what her detailed views are now, beyond reiterating the Labour mantra that the government has made a mess of Brexit and that Labour will make things better. Plain speaking, in the style favoured by Castle, this is not.
It is, of course, unfair to compare Rayner’s overall record at this point because she has never served in government. If and when Labour achieve power she may well turn out to be a formidable minister. No one can really say with any certainty but the early signs are not encouraging.
Castle brought dedication, a ferocious attention to detail, and political savvy to every one of the causes she believed in. Rayner simply doesn’t have the same political charisma, ideas or boldness.
At the same time that Rayner was advertising herself as the modern Barbara Castle, she refused to answer questions on whether it was Labour policy to keep the triple lock on pensions. This is one more policy area where voters will have to wait for clear and definitive answers from Labour. Ironically it was Castle – her supposed political heroine – who introduced index-linking of pensions, claiming it as one of her greatest political achievements and described by her as the most significant welfare reform ever. Does Rayner even know this?
Barbara Castle was forthright, principled and brave – one of the most effective cabinet ministers of her generation. Angela Rayner, like far too many of today’s politicians, rates her own abilities a little too highly. ‘You’re no Barbara Castle’, Ange.
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