Angela Rayner (née Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015.
She has served in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Secretary of State for Education since 2016. Rayner left secondary school aged 16 whilst pregnant and without any qualifications.
She later trained as a care worker, eventually becoming a trade union representative within Unison, during which time she joined the Labour Party.
Shortly after her election to parliament in 2015, she was described in the media as being part of the Labour Party's soft left, and has since been considered by some as a possible future Labour leader.
During her time as shadow education secretary, Rayner has proposed the creation of a National Education Service (NES), modelled after the National Health Service.
Early life and career
Rayner was born on 28 March 1980 in Stockport, Greater Manchester. She attended Avondale School in Stockport, leaving the school aged 16 after becoming pregnant, and did not obtain any qualifications. She later studied part-time at Stockport College, learning British Sign Language, and gaining an NVQ Level 2 in social care.
After leaving college, Rayner worked for Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as a care worker for a number of years. During this time, she was also elected as a trade union representative for Unison. She was later elected as convenor of Unison North West, becoming the union's most senior official in the region. The Guardian featured a lengthy profile of Rayner in 2012, as part of an article on a trade union officer's working life.
Personal life
In 2010, Rayner married Mark Rayner, a Unison official. She has three sons, the first born when she was aged 16. Her second son Charlie was born prematurely at 23 weeks and Rayner says that the care that her son received demonstrated the importance of the NHS to her. Rayner lives in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne with her family. She became a grandmother in November 2017. Rayner and her husband separated in 2020. As of July 2022, it has been reported she is in a relationship with Labour MP Sam Tarry, though this has not been confirmed.
In an interview in 2018, Rayner said that her mother had been unable to read or write; she had previously mentioned this in a tribute she made to her mother in 2016.
