On Friday, Angela Rayner resigned as Deputy Prime Minister after a probe into her tax affairs by Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser. In a rather extraordinary scandal, Rayner was investigated after it emerged she had underpaid stamp duty when purchasing a seaside apartment in Hove, East Sussex. Sir Keir Starmer hinted on Thursday that he would move to sack Rayner pending the results of the investigation, but Rayner jumped before she was pushed. Her departure triggered a cabinet reshuffle, while Labour’s NEC will meet at noon today to discuss the timeframe for a deputy leadership election. But as Rayner moves to the backbenches, one big question about the ex-DPM remains: will she take her £17,000 golden goodbye?
The former Labour deputy is due a severance payment of £16,876 – which might sweeten the blow of Sir Laurie Magnus’s ethics probe into her tax affairs. But given Rayner has already been accused of hypocrisy over her underpayment of stamp duty, she might want to avoid further charges over this. After all, Mr S would remind readers, in February 2024 Rayner voted in favour of ministerial severance pay reform that would stop ministers who were found to have breached the ministerial code from receiving a payout. How very interesting…
So will the Red Queen stay true to her principles – or will it be a case of rules for thee, but not for me? Watch this space…
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