The man who fathered a baby with Labour’s rising star Angela Rayner when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl can be revealed today by MailOnline.
Neil Batty met the future Shadow Deputy Prime Minister in a nightclub and within a few months she was pregnant, giving birth to their son Ryan in 1997.
The young couple moved into a cramped council flat and struggled to make ends meet, living off Neil’s meagre salary from washing cars. Ms Rayner was six months pregnant by the time she collected her GSCEs.
Back then his family claim that she had no political ambitions and didn’t even know who the Prime Minister was – but claim that she’s been a good mother to the boy, having brought him up alone after her relationship with Neil collapsed.
Angela Rayner (left), who was raised on a tough Stockport council estate, had her son Ryan, (right) when she was 16 in 1997 just a few months after taking her GCSE exams
Ms Rayner had Ryan with Neil Batty, a car washer who she met in a local nightclub. The young couple separated three years later. Pictured: Neil and Ryan at Manchester United game in 2015
Ms Rayner (right) was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer (left) as chair of the Labour Party and national campaign coordinator in the wake of their disastrous election results
They also praised her for overcoming incredibly difficult family circumstances on a tough run-down council estate. Neither of her parents worked and the family relied on state benefits to survive, sometimes not having enough money to eat adequately.
Speaking to MailOnline the family source said: ‘When we first knew her, she never showed any interest in politics. I don’t think she could have even told you who was the Prime Minister at the time, or which political party was in power.
‘When she got into politics, it was quite a surprise to me because at first, there was nothing remotely political about her. She wasn’t that interested in school and left without any qualifications.’
Ryan’s birth certificate shows his dad is Neil
Neil’s family have been following the news closely over the past week as Ms Rayner hit the headlines amid a political falling out with Sir Keir Starmer following a string of poor results in the English local elections.
She was sacked as party chair and campaign co-ordinator with her supporters fuming that she had been written off by Sir Keir and his supporters within the party as a ‘working class oik and a bit thick.’
Reflecting on her national media profile, the source added: ‘It’s still a shock for us when we see her on television and realise how important she is. We can’t believe that it’s the same girl. But fair play to her, she’s overcome a lot of hurdles and made something of her life.’
The source recalled Ms Rayner’s difficult past, claiming that her relationship with Neil initially helped to provide her with stability and a ‘way out.’ Her mother Lynn could not read and write and suffered from mental health issues.
By the age of 10 the politician, who had two other siblings, was her primary carer.
The source added: ‘I got to know Angela quite well and it was obvious that her family life was very difficult. She came from a very troubled background and did not try to hide that.
‘Neil was good for her because he gave her a lot of stability and an escape from her situation. He was a bit older and working. His family background was also very different and a lot more settled.
Ms Rayner found herself living in a council flat aged 18 and bringing up her son Ryan as a single mother. Pictured: Ms Rayner and Ryan, then aged 10, meet Gordon Brown in 2007
‘They were a lovely young couple. She got pregnant within a few months of them meeting and then they moved in together.’
Ms Rayner, 41, and Mr Batty, 44, were together for around three years and then parted ‘amicably.’
She moved into a council flat with her son and brought him up while he went to live in a nearby home in Ashton-under-Lyne.
Both she and her former partner still live in the town, just minutes apart but their lives have taken dramatically different paths.
Ms Rayner was elected MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in 2015 and has rapidly risen through Labour’s ranks to establish herself as one of its most powerful figures. She is being seen by many as vital to the party’s ambition to reconnect with its working-class roots and win back its northern heartland.
She lives with her husband Mark Rayner, a union official, in a more up-market part of the town. They married in 2010 and have two sons; Charlie, 12 who is registered blind and Jimmy, 11.
Ms Rayner married union boss Mark Rayner (above) in 2010 and had two more children
Neil works as a telecommunications engineer and shares a modest, terraced home with his new partner.
Despite sharing a son and living close to each other, it is understood that the Labour rising star and Ryan’s father rarely see or speak to each other.
The last time they are said to have met was three years ago when she hosted a first birthday party for her granddaughter, Lilth Mae, who was born to Ryan and his partner Shannen in 2017.
After becoming a grandmother at the tender age of 37, Ms Rayner jokingly referred to herself as ‘grangela.’
The family source revealed that at the party for Lilth Mae, which took place in Ms Rayner’s home, politics strictly off the agenda, as Neil and many within his family do not support the Labour party and are committed Brexiteers.
The source revealed: ‘Her home is quite amazing when you compare it to the place, she was brought up in. We all had a lovely time but were under strict instructions not to speak about politics because we don’t support Labour.
‘We don’t agree with much of Angela’s politics but that shouldn’t take away our admiration for what she’s achieved. She’s a working-class girl made good and the family and the whole town is very proud of her.’
The left-wing politican has spoken movingly in the media of the challenges she faced as a youngster.
Ms Rayner and her son Ryan (pictured together) are close and she has praised his maturity as he has grown up and had a baby of his own in his mid-twenties
She revealed how she was bullied for being ‘a poor kid on the estate’ and how the family often went hungry.
She once said: ‘We had a giro once a fortnight and that was it.’
Her Labour party website page states that Ms Rayner first got involved in politics while working as a care worker for Stockport Council, when she was chosen by colleagues to be their union representative with UNISON.
It adds: ‘She did not have a privileged upbringing and never went to public school or university. She was brought up on a council estate and left her local comprehensive at 16 with no qualifications and a baby already on the way, after being told she would ‘never amount to anything’.
Ms Rayner and Ryan were approached for comment.