Rayner failed to live up to her reputation as a great parliamentary performer

The deputy Labour leader struck all the wrong notes in Prime Minister’s Questions, writes John Rentoul

Angela Rayner’s line of questioning ‘failed to get off the ground’ (PA)

Angela Rayner is a great parliamentary performer, so the prime minister’s absence in the Gulf was a chance for her to shine. She was up against Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister whose role in the past has been to make Boris Johnson look good by not being as bullish as him, and to make Rayner look good by acting as her foil.

The Labour side of the house, and the press gallery, were looking forward to a bit of colour and entertainment, a change from Keir Starmer’s usual dry, over-prepared performance and Johnson’s waffle. But it went badly for Rayner from the start. The mood of the Commons was wrong for her boisterous approach to politics. Prime Minister’s Questions started when MPs knew that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had got as far as Tehran airport, but it was too early to be sure that she would definitely be free.

Rayner went ahead and asked about her anyway, with a gratuitous question about whether Boris Johnson’s “lazy comments” as foreign secretary had “worsened the situation”. This struck such a discordant note that Labour MPs behind her, who had come for the show, studied their phones intently, pretending to check for news from Iran.