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The former deputy PM should be all smiles today, as the stage looks set for her to become PM. Sir Keir looks doomed after last Thursday's electoral wipeout. This is her moment, and she knows it. She's now the bookies' favourite to move into No 10. It would mark a stunning rise to power for a working class girl from Stockport who fell pregnant at 16 and left school with no qualifications. Labour lefties reckon she can sweep aside Starmer's dreary managerialism and reconnect the party with its working class roots. That brings me to the first of three huge problems facing Angela Rayner today.

Everything that makes Red Ange popular inside Labour risks alienating voters outside it. Many will look at the vaping, the drinking, the tattoos, and won't find that authentic and relatable at all. They'll have read the story about Rayner getting so drunk she reportedly smashed a Parliamentary door, and be horrified at the idea of her representing Britain on the world stage. Or any stage. Many Labour MPs feel the same way. The "anyone but Ange" tendency is strong. And she has a second big problem.

Rayner does resemble Starmer in one disastrous respect. The PM's carefully crafted image for honesty and decency was sunk by revelations of his relentless freebie-grabbing. Rayner faces similar charges of hypocrisy. She demands Brits pay loads more taxes, but isn't so keen on dipping into her own pocket. Taxes are for the little people, not her.

We're still awaiting the outcome of the HMRC investigation into how she sidestepped the £40,000 stamp duty bill on her £800,000 luxury seaside pad on the South Coast. Rayner insists it was an innocent slip. But it also happened to save her a large wedge.

Rayner is confident the investigation will see her point of view. Voters may not be so indulgent. Either way, she's stuck waiting for the verdict while Labour's leadership crisis gathers speed. After last Thursday's election bombshell, she now has a third problem to contend with. Forget all that guff about Rayner saving Labour. She may not even be able to save herself.

Labour lost control of Tameside council in her own Greater Manchester backyard. This was rock-solid Labour territory for decades. Now it's collapsed under the assault from Nigel Farage's insurgent Reform UK.

If Rayner did become Labour leader, there's a real possibility she could lose her own Parliamentary seat at the next general election. Which would leave her looking for a new job. That's enough to wipe the smile off anybody's face. Maybe she should stand in Hove instead.

Leadership rival Andy Burnham is popular with the public. His supporters are desperate to parachute him into a safe Labour seat to challenge Starmer. But he as a problem too. There's no such thing as a safe Labour seat these days.

Burnham could resign as Mayor of Manchester only to find constituency voters don't like being used as a stepping stone to power. Given the anti-Labour mood, they'd love to humiliate him.

Rayner and Burnham are Labour's great hopes. And both are blocked from challenging Starmer. That'll wipe the smiles off their faces, and allow the PM a smug little grin. Whatever happens, it's a massive problem for the rest of us. The UK is descending into chaos under this dreadful Labour government, and there's nothing to smile about at all.