Angela Rayner has called for Andy Burnham to return to Parliament in a major challenge to Keir Starmer. In a dramatic intervention in the wake of the local elections meltdown, Ms Rayner delivered a devastating verdict on her former boss’s performance.

She said the Peter Mandelson scandal showed a “toxic culture of cronyism” and accused the PM of failing to help “working people” enough.

Her bombshell statement, released on the eve of Sir Keir giving a make-or-break speech, laid out proposals for an extraordinary Labour shift to the Left.

The former deputy PM also hinted that she has formed an alliance with Manchester Mayor Mr Burnham, amid alarm that Wes Streeting – seen as a Blairite – has put himself in pole position to force an early contest and seize the leadership.

Many at Westminster expect Sir Keir’s fate to be sealed as early as tomorrow, with a ‘stalking horse’ challenger surfacing and anger mounting among MPs.

Ms Rayner said the Government had allowed ‘wealth and power to concentrate at the top’, demanding a wave of nationalisations.

She said her controversial workers’ rights overhaul should be “just the start”, and indicated a push for more taxes on the wealthy.

The country could not carry on with “deregulation, privatisation, and trickle-down economics”, she said.

“Labour is in danger of becoming the party of the well-off, not working people,” she added.