Heads its awkward, tails its awkward for the prime minister

It feels like crunch time for Angela Rayner.

Plenty of folk at Westminster reckon today is the day her fate will be determined.

The prime minister told me yesterday he expected the investigation by the independent adviser on ministerial standards to be quick and he thought that was a good thing.

That suggests Sir Keir wont prevaricate in offering his own judgement about Sir Laurie Magnuss findings once he himself has them.

As ever, there is always scope for unforeseen wrinkles or unrelated stuff that pushes things back a bit.

Does the prime minister want to do a wider reshuffle at the same time?

Aside from the timing, this is a heads its awkward, tails its awkward situation for the prime minister.

If Sir Lauries report left scope for the deputy prime minister to stay on, its not an easy argument to make after all the revelations of recent days.

But if she goes, as most I talk to now think is more likely, there are then two big questions: who replaces her and what does she do next?

Does Rayner remain deputy leader of the Labour Party, a position she was elected to by party members, even if she is no longer deputy prime minister and housing secretary?

If she resigns as the partys deputy leader, a contest to replace her would begin.

When I spoke to Sir Keir in Glasgow on Thursday, he was talking up a £10bn deal to sell warships to Norway.

He talked with an enthusiasm about digital ID cards I had never heard before as a potential tool for tackling illegal immigration.

He also talked about tweaks to the implications of the European Convention on Human Rights hes determined to push through.

But all of this, inevitably, generates fewer headlines than the conduct of his deputy.

All told, this is not exactly the start he wanted to what the prime minister described as the beginning of "phase two" of his government at the beginning of the week.