Angela Rayner’s ignominious departure from Government marked the downfall of a modern Labour star, who only weeks ago had been tipped as a future prime minister.
Her loss is a blow to Labour: a remarkable backstory of northern woman done good, working her way up from a deprived childhood through the trades union movement to serve as one of the Government’s most senior players, connecting to parts of the Labour coalition and wider electorate Sir Keir Starmer can’t reach.
But it also plunged his administration into fresh turmoil, blowing apart his attempt to embark on a more successful “phase two” as he was forced into a wider reshuffle of his Cabinet.
In Birmingham, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was gleeful, bringing forward his keynote conference speech by three hours to react to Rayner’s departure.
“The reason I’ve moved this speaking time forward is this Government is in deep crisis,” Farage told a roaring crowd of supporters. “It screams to entitlement,” he said of Rayner’s tax scandal.
Her departure also puts Starmer into a near-impossible position of demanding voters pay more taxes – perhaps on their own homes – at the Budget on 26 November, when his deputy failed to pay £40,000 of outstanding tax on her own property. Avoiding the charges of hypocrisy will ripple through every Budget planning meeting.
Allies of Rayner had blamed three anonymous legal professionals for giving flawed advice that she should pay the regular rate of stamp duty on her purchase of the flat, rather than the higher rate that applies to second homes. Ethics watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus found she had broken the Ministerial Code.
In her resignation letter to Starmer, Rayner said: “I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements.
“I will continue to serve you, our country and the party and movement I love in the weeks, months and years ahead,” she added. The outpouring of supportive messages from Cabinet and party colleagues showed that Rayner’s time in the political wilderness may be short-lived.
Now a backbencher and no longer bound by the ties of collective responsibility, her period of wound-licking may not last long. Any future intervention into the policy debate will cause a stir.
In his response to her resignation, Starmer sent a handwritten return note. “Even though you won’t be part of the Government, you will remain a major figure in our party”, he said, adding that he was “very sad” her time in office “has ended in this way”.
Rayner has not just resigned from the Government, but also from her position as Labour deputy leader.
A prolonged contest for that role – which is elected – is not in Starmer’s interests. Centrist candidates are expected to unite around one candidate to push out the possibility of a Momentum-style uprising from Labour’s left. One of those left-wing MPs, Richard Burgon, immediately warned against a “stitch-up”.
Without an opportunity to make a stand against Starmer’s platform, the already alienated left of the party may decide to hotfoot it over to the Greens, or even Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist grouping. It will be a proxy battle for the future of the party post-Starmer.
Early names being touted include Labour MPs Emily Thornberry and Rosena Allin-Khan, Stella Creasy, Lou Haigh, Dawn Butler, Anneliese Dodds, Clive Lewis and Dan Carden.
“It’s a headache we can do without,” one Government source told The i Paper. “If we don’t have a coronation all those who decide to stand will be doing it because they want to be ‘the one after Keir’. That person, whoever they are, is going to be in an incredibly strong position because they become the natural successor and what’s more, they have a fresher mandate from the party than Keir does.”
Back in Downing Street on Friday afternoon, the reshuffle was under way. David Lammy became Deputy Prime Minister, a sweetener for his demotion to Justice Secretary, while Yvette Cooper took his place as Foreign Secretary.
Making Lammy DPM straight away also prevents a situation where Starmer is under pressure to appoint the winner of the deputy leadership contest if a leftist candidate slips through.
Shabana Mahmood, the outgoing justice secretary, who is seen as one of the outstanding stars of the administration for her cool approach to prison overcrowding, takes over the Home Office.
Even if constitutionally the Foreign Secretary ranks higher than the Home Secretary, right now immigration policy is the foremost political concern.
It was a statement of intent from Starmer on the same day as Farage hyperbolically claimed he could stop the arrival of small boats within a fortnight. It’s an admission that tackling migration needs to be stepped up a gear as the issue has risen to the top of voters’ concerns in some polls.
square KITTY DONALDSON Careless Rayner had no choice – Starmer is on the back foot yet again
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Installing Mahmood – who has shown political ankle on reviewing the European Convention on Human Rights – was greeted with relief among Labour MPs nervy about Reform and who have for months been pushing Starmer to go faster.
Pat McFadden will become secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in a new department incorporating the skills brief which currently sits with the Department for Education. Sources have suggested Starmer is still keen to pursue welfare reform even after the damaging defeat to his plans in the summer.
Still, Starmer would rather not have been forced into the wider reshuffle precipitated by Rayner’s downfall. For weeks Downing Street had been indicating they only wanted a more limited rejig of the lower ranks. But it had become clear late on Thursday evening that she would have to leave Government because she had fallen into the category marked “distraction” even before Magnus had delivered his verdict to Starmer early on Friday.
No 10 had started backing away from the beleaguered former deputy prime minister on Wednesday afternoon. A slew of headlines going into Thursday’s papers, where her legal counsel said they had been made a “scapegoat” because Rayner hadn’t been clear about the complications around her house purchase, added to the impression of a story coming to a rapid conclusion.
For her, and for the Prime Minister, it was an ending neither had wanted nor anticipated at the start of the week. Phase one of Starmer’s Government lasted from him winning the general election in July last year until Monday. Phase two lasted less than a week. Welcome to phase three.
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