Breaking: Angela Rayner called Prince Andrew a ‘nonce’ and tried to block him from standing in for King Charles, book claims….See More

Angela Rayner called Prince Andrew a “nonce” and tried to block him from ever standing in for King Charles, according to a tell-all book on Labour’s rise to power.

The deputy prime minister reportedly fought a behind-the-scenes battle to curb the Duke of York’s influence following his downfall over ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Mail published an extract from Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer, a book by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, set for release on February 13.

Prince Andrew remains a counsellor of state who can deputise for the King. However, he has been stripped of other royal roles due to his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and a photo of him with then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre.

The Duke of York paid Ms Giuffre £12m to avoid a trial but denied wrongdoing and says he has no memory of meeting her.

He is now rarely seen in public and has been living a quiet life since a car crash interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019.

Ms Rayner was said to be wanting to remove Andrew as one of the counsellors of the state.

She allegedly said: “I’m not going to vote to keep that nonce on… I can’t go back to my constituency and say, ‘Yeah, I support that’.”

Ms Rayner had also been critical of the duke while in opposition and while an aide said she is not “anti monarchist” she has called for a need for Andrew to not represent the country.

According to the Mail, the aide added: “She was very actively reaching out to the Palace, the upper echelons of the civil service.

“And said she thought this was a huge problem, and that the Government needed to address this, and that she would offer cross-party support to make sure it happened.”

The duke claimed in the BBC interview that he ended his friendship with Epstein in December 2010 after the billionaire financier had been convicted of a child sex offence.

However, this week a probe showed he emailed Epstein in early 2011 to state: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon.”

The duke has a long history of dubious relationships and most recently pulled out of the royals’ pre Christmas lunch after news of the Chinese spy scandal broke.

Ms Rayner’s office has been approached for comment.

Angela Rayner described Prince Andrew as “that n****” and tried to prevent him from being eligible to deputise for King Charles over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, a new book has claimed.

The deputy prime minister reportedly contacted Buckingham Palace and senior civil servants in a bid to remove the disgraced Duke of York from a list of royals who could step in for the King if he is abroad or incapacitated.

After the death of Queen Elizabeth, before Labour came to power, the list of those who would serve as counsellors of state were Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice.

Expanding the list, which the Palace and Downing Street decided on as a diplomatic fix to avoid Andrew and Harry deputising for the King, required new legislation, which Ms Rayner would have been required to deliver a statement on and potentially to vote for.

While negotiations were ongoing, Ms Rayner reportedly walked into her office and told staff: “I’m not going to vote to keep that n**** on … I can’t go back to my constituency and say, yeah, I support that.”

The claim is the latest revelation in the upcoming book Get In by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, which tells the story of the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer.

And it comes as newly surfaced messages revealed that the Duke of York was in contact with notorious paedophile Epstein for longer than he had previously claimed.

Emails between Andrew and Epstein handed to a court in London reportedly show he remained in contact with the disgraced financier until February 2011, despite having claimed to have cut him off in December 2010.

In a message sent in February 2011, the duke wrote: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon.”

In an extract of Get In, published in The Times, an adviser to Ms Rayner details her outrage at Andrew’s desire to play an active role in public life.

The aide said: “She was very actively reaching out to the palace, the upper echelons of the civil service and said she thought this was a huge problem, and that the government needed to address this, and that she would offer cross-party support to make sure it happened.

That’s, to be stereotypical, her working-class view. She’s not anti-monarchist, but she doesn’t like a paedo.”

Ms Rayner reportedly showed sympathy for the royal family, describing it as “dysfunctional”, but called for Andrew to be axed from royal duties altogether.

The latest tranche of messages between Andrew and Epstein show they were in contact on the same day a photograph of Andrew with 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently behind bars for recruiting and trafficking underage girls for Epstein, was published, Bloomberg reported.

Ms Giuffre has accused Andrew of sexually abusing her on Epstein’s private island Little St James as a teenager, which the prince “unequivocally” denied.

In 2022, he agreed to settle her civil claim for a multi-million pound sum, without admitting liability.