Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner makes surprise visit to Doncaster
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has made a surprise visit – just days after a political rival suggested she should visit the city.
The senior Labour politician joined Doncaster mayor Ros Jones on the campaign trail in Balby, joined by a number of local Labour councillors.
Earlier this week, former Doncaster Conservative MP Nick Fletcher, who is bidding to become the city’s mayor, invited King Charles and Ms Rayner to visit Hexthorpe, before adding: “Doubt they will come.”
The ex-Don Valley MP issued the invite after the King gave Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Rayner a guided tour of his environmentally friendly, sustainable housing project in Cornwall.
The former MP, who is hoping to replace Labour’s Ros Jones at the May election, shared a photo of the visit and added: “Be nice if they came to Hexthorpe. Doubt they will come but I will gladly show them around.”
King Charles visited Doncaster in 2022 to confer city status alongside Queen Camilla and the pair returned for the St Leger in 2023.
Meanwhile, Angela Rayner made a number of visits to Doncaster during last year’s General Election campaign, while the PM, who has family in Doncaster, is also a regular visitor.
However, on a visit to last year’s St Leger at Doncaster Racecourse, he came in for abuse from groups of racegoers who booed and shouted insults at him as he made his way through the crowds alongside his wife, whose later mother lived in the city, a stone’s throw from Town Moor.