Starmer’s top aide, his PPS Carolyn Harris, has quit amid allegations of spreading rumours about Angela Rayner, the Times reports. It sounded like Starmer was searching for a new PPS this morning, following his shadow cabinet reshuffle on Sunday night, and Harris now has confirmed she is pro-actively “stepping back from this role”. This is the second post-local election resignation since Friday night…

It is alleged Harris had spread “baseless rumours about Angela Rayner’s private life”, with a senior Labour figure saying “She was briefing salacious rumours about Angela over the weekend and got caught. She’s a total wrecking ball and has done him a lot of harm in PLP”. Asked about the claims, Harris blocked the Times reporter on WhatsApp. Not the move of an innocent person…