Keir Starmer is carrying out a far-reaching reshuffle this afternoon after Angela Rayner resigned from her three roles (Deputy Prime Minister, Housing Minister and deputy Labour leader) following a probe into her tax affairs by Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser. The writing was on the wall for Starmer’s former second-in-command after her own lawyers put out a statement on Thursday in which they claimed to have been scapegoated over the whole ordeal. Now Rayner will move to the backbenches while Starmer galvanises his premiership with a cabinet reshuffle.
There have been significant moves among the most senior ranks of the cabinet. David Lammy is now Deputy Prime Minister. He is also Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor. Yvette Cooper replaces him as Foreign Secretary, while Shabana Mahmood replaces her as Home Secretary. Mahmood now has a mammoth task in front of her – from leading Labour’s prison reforms to tackling the small boats crisis. Lammy had made inroads with Donald Trump’s administration during his time in the Foreign Office – forging an unlikely bond with Vice President J.D. Vance – while Cooper remains one of the most senior figures in Starmer’s government.
Meanwhile, Leader of the House Lucy Powell and Scotland Secretary Ian Murray are out of Starmer’s government. Neither were particularly in the Prime Minister’s good books – Powell ruffled feathers when she said the issue of grooming gangs was a ‘dog whistle’, while Starmer viewed Murray as fundamentally unserious and didn’t like him – despite the Edinburgh South MP being Scottish Labour’s longest serving parliamentarian in Westminster. Labour sources tell me that Gordon Brown ally Douglas Alexander is thought to be in with a strong chance for the Scotland post. Steve Reed is now Housing Secretary, while Pat McFadden has become Work and Pensions Secretary – following expectations that Liz Kendall would be moved from the post. McFadden will also take on the skills brief in the Department for Education.
Rachel Reeves has remained Chancellor. Peter Kyle has moved from DSIT to become Business and Trade Secretary, with Liz Kendall replacing him. Emma Reynolds is Environment and Food Secretary, while my Labour sources were correct with their expectations that Douglas Alexander would become Scotland Secretary. Jonathan Reynolds is Chief Whip and Sir Alan Campbell is Leader of the Commons. There was speculation that Ed Miliband would be shuffled out of his Net Zero brief, but he has remained Energy and Climate Secretary. John Healey will remain Defence Secretary and Lisa Nandy is also staying put in DCMS.
What is notable about those removed from government is that they are relatively unpopular inside the party. Ian Murray only has a favourability rating of +8, according to LabourList polling, while Lucy Powell has a net score of zero. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall is even more unpopular than Chancellor Rachel Reeves – though the latter will stay put (with the markets, in part, to thank for that).
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