How the Labour movement’s darling was toppled, and what it means for the floundering Starmer project
People liked Angela Rayner, the UK’s deputy prime minister and housing secretary, and deputy leader of the Labour Party. The former care worker, herself from a working-class background, rose through the ranks of the trade union movement, became an MP, and was eventually second-in-command of Labour. She is charismatic, authentic, and a risk taker, all of which endeared her to her supporters.
But she took one risk too many. She paid a lower rate of property tax on a pricey seafront property and ignored advice that she should seek qualified tax counsel to confirm she was not liable for the higher rate — which, it turned out, she was.
Some newspapers got hold of the story, pieced together the details, and forced an ethics investigation, which compelled her to resign. Having been both housing secretary and a vociferous critic of Tory sleaze, the charge of hypocrisy has effectively ended Rayner’s career, precipitated an extensive ministerial reshuffle, and thrown the government into chaos. Here are four takeaways from Rayner’s brutal takedown.
After multiple Tory scandals, Keir Starmer pledged a “government of service,” free of his predecessors’ sleaze. But Rayner is the fourth minister in just over a year to resign over personal scandal, to say nothing of the legal but distasteful generous donations to the Starmer wardrobe by Labour peer Lord Alli.
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