Angela Rayner’s departure from cabinet marks an abrupt end for a politician who had fought doggedly to reach Labour’s top table. It also represents an old-fashioned scalp for the press, elements of which have been poring over her finances and living arrangements for more than a year.
The frustration among Rayner’s friends is that she had already survived waves of stories aimed at derailing her political career. However, they say her admission that she did not pay the correct stamp duty on the purchase of a Hove flat, which some see as a maddening own goal, gave her opponents a clear opening.
The Telegraph was already claiming victory on Wednesday, reliving how it had exposed crucial details of the Labour deputy leader’s tax arrangements on the flat purchase at the end of last week.
It followed Rayner’s lengthy admission that an error had been made, which she said had come after incorrect advice. However, her statement also revealed complicated personal circumstances that included a court order, a divorce, shifting living arrangements and a trust set up to support her disabled son.
The error was exposed after a previous attempt to draw attention to Rayner’s housing arrangements failed to dislodge her. The Mail on Sunday pursued Rayner last year with allegations she had avoided tax on the sale of a former home. After demands from Conservative MPs, the case was examined by Greater Manchester police, which cleared her of criminal wrongdoing. Soon after, HM Revenue and Customs said she owed no tax.
It was the Mail on Sunday that also first reported Rayner’s acquisition of the Hove flat, stating she had added it to her “burgeoning property empire”. The Telegraph’s crucial development came days later. Rayner says the Hove property is the only one she owns.
By then, the Sun had nicknamed her “three pads Rayner”, echoing the press’s treatment of John Prescott, who – like Rayner – was a Labour deputy prime minister handed high office for his ability to keep a significant slice of the union movement onboard. Prescott was labelled “two Jags” by the press after he used two Jaguar cars – one that he owned, the other a ministerial car.
Coverage of the Rayner row has since spread well beyond the rightwing press. The extent of her admission was enough to lose her the support of some media figures who had been sympathetic. James O’Brien, an LBC radio host who describes himself as a liberal, had said she could no longer survive as housing secretary.
In recent days, Rayner and those close to her have found themselves at the centre of a classic media feeding frenzy, with her partner’s work and associations also examined closely. More stories have appeared in the traditionally rightwing press: one questioned the valuation of her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne; another accused her of planning to find a safer seat, based on a claim by a Reform MP.
However, as the front pages began to roll in on Thursday night, even Labour’s media allies signalled trouble. The Mirror’s front page called it “crisis point” for Starmer’s deputy. It followed a statement from the conveyancing firm Rayner used to complete her purchase of the Brighton flat, stating it did not offer her tax advice.
While Rayner is the most high-profile figure to depart under Starmer after media scrutiny of her private affairs, she is not the first. It is less than a month since Rushanara Ali, the homelessness minister for England, resigned after reports she evicted tenants from a property she owns then re-let it for £700 more a month.
Despite the attention on Rayner, there has also been some sympathy for her in the pages of the Telegraph. Its tax columnist, the retired accountant Mike Warburton, said he, too, had been unaware of the rules Rayner had broken. “No, I am not going soft in the head and I do not want to get involved in the politics, but this is an example of one of my overriding themes: our tax rules are far too complicated,” he wrote.
“The fact is, the stamp duty rules are very complex and I have to admit that last week when I was asked about this I had not appreciated how the trust complicated matters. I can therefore understand that others can become confused. In my view we need a complete overhaul of our complex tax rules. Stamp duty would be a good place to start.”
