Angela Rayner has said her relationship with Keir Starmer is like “two dogs together in a room”.
Labour’s deputy leader said she and Starmer were not yet “best of mates” but had “found a way to exist together”.
Relations between Starmer and his deputy were strained last year when an attempt to remove Rayner as party chair ended up with her being promoted following an internal power struggle.
In an interview with Times Radio, Rayner said the paid had “always had a reasonably good relationship” and “don’t clash on issues”.
“It’s like putting two dogs together in a room, they’ll fight for a little bit and then they find a way, then they become best of mates,” she said.
“So I think we haven’t quite got best of mates yet, but we definitely found a way to exist together and to complement each other.
“We’ve managed to find a way to be respectful and understand each other and where we come from.”
Rayner said the two had different styles and while she would “vent my anger” at a problem, Starmer was “different”.
On Thursday Labour retained the Birmingham Erdington constituency in a by-election.
Paulette Hamilton was elected the country’s newest MP and is the first black person to represent a Birmingham constituency.
The contest was triggered by the death of Jack Dromey, who held the seat for Labour in 2019.