07 June 2024 , 17:33
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Much has been made of Angela Rayner's inspirational rise to the very top of politics. The Labour deputy leader, who tonight faces off against Penny Mordaunt, Nigel Farage and four other senior politicians in the BBC's first live Election Debate, overcame several obstacles in her early life - including becoming a carer to her own mother at the age of 10.
Now 44, the mum-of-three's start in life was very different to that of her own children. Born on a council estate in Stockport to two parents who didn't work, Angela's own mum struggled with bipolar disorder and was illiterate, leaving Angela to pick up the pieces at home.
As the eldest child of three, making sure the household stayed running fell on her young shoulders - the only money coming into the home was her parents' giro cheques, and that would only go so far.
“I remember going round to my friends’ houses and asking them to ask their mum and dad if I could stay for dinner because I wasn’t going to get fed,” she told the Guardian in 2017.
Angela's upbringing was tough and she became her mum's carer aged 10 (Internet Unknown)School, when she made it in, was "the place where I hung about with my mates and got a meal", but her mum's lack of education meant Angela had little support at home to keep studying.
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“My mum didn’t understand that education was an important thing," she revealed. "She couldn’t do my homework with me. I was helping her read stuff. She once brought shaving soap thinking it was whipped cream."
Another time, she and her little brother and sister were accidentally as their mother had mistaken the picture on the tin for stewing meat.
“We were hungry, pretty much every day – worse in the holidays,” Angela told the Mirror in 2023. “We were all really thin. I think my sister was hospitalised once, I think for two weeks, she was so thin. She was about eight.”
As her mother's mental health deteriorated, Angela was forced to step up to shoulder a responsibility no child should have to bear. "I remember her first mental health crisis when she said she wanted to kill herself," she remembered. "I was 10, and I slept at the bottom of her bed to stop her. From an early age, I remember the relationship flipping. I became the parent."
Angela Rayner's qualifications
Seeking the love she never felt at home, Angela became pregnant at 16 - her eldest son Ryan's father didn't stick around - and she dropped out of school before her exams.
She told the Mirror: "From 13/14 I was always hanging about with older boys. Boys in school used to call me names. But outside older boys would pay me attention because I looked older for my age. I was going to clubs from 14. I wanted to be loved. I didn’t intend to get pregnant, it was literally the first time.”
Angela left school without qualifications but went back to college later on (PA)Having been told she'd "never amount to anything", Angela was determined to carve out a better life for her and Ryan. At 18 she was living in her own council flat, taking parenting classes through Sure Start and studying part-time at Stockport College. There she learned British Sign Language and gained an NVQ Level 2 in social care, setting her up for a career as a care worker for the local authority, which in turn led her to get involved in union work.
"I grew up on a council estate and was pregnant at 16, only able to afford clothes from a charity shop," she told the Guardian in 2012, while working as a Unison steward.
"I was told I'd never amount to anything and would be living in a council house, on benefits with loads of kids by the time I was 30. That's not me, though I wouldn't judge someone if they were in that situation. But I have three lovely kids, live in my own house and have a great job – I've had to earn respect the hard way, starting as a home help when I left school."
Angela once said she feels she's "punching above my gene pool" (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)In 2015's general election, Angela became the first woman MP in the 180-year history of her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency. She joined Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Education, then in 2020 was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
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“Growing up I was always made to feel I wasn’t good enough. I was called a scrubber," she told the Guardian in 2017.
"I already feel like I’m punching above my gene pool. I’m in a place achieving things I never dreamed of being able to do. What gives me the confidence to do it is knowing I’m speaking up for my class, the people that I’m there to represent.”
*Watch the Election Debate live tonight from 7.30pm on BBC One