Caught in own ambush? Leader put on the back foot over treatment of Abbott

Keir Starmer began his day by taunting Rishi Sunak for the faltering start to the Conservatives' election campaign.

- Pippa Crerar and Eleni Courea

On a visit to Wales yesterday, the Labour leader said Sunak thought he was laying a trap by calling a snap summer election but blunders since then meant he had "caught himself in his own ambush".

By the evening, however, it was Starmer who was on the back foot, with Tories crowing that he was being undermined by his deputy, Angela Rayner, over the fate of Diane Abbott. In an interview with the Guardian, Rayner said she saw no reason why Abbott should not be allowed to stand again for Labour now the whip had been restored, although she indicated Abbott may yet opt to retire.

That had been the original plan, according to Labour insiders, until it was jeopardised by an unauthorised briefing that she would be barred from standing again, riling her allies and leaving some senior party figures shaking their heads in despair.

"It was totally counterproductive," one admitted. "What were they trying to achieve? We were hoping that it could all be handled with dignity but they couldn't resist giving her a kicking on the way out."