Rachel Reeves is facing more questions over her illegal letting scandal today despite Keir Starmer making another late-night bid to kill it off.
The Chancellor made an extraordinary admission last night that she had misled the PM and his sleaze adviser over whether she knew a licence was needed to rent out her family home.
Emails showed that in fact the lettings agency informed Ms Reeves’ husband that one was required under Southwark Council’s rules – although he was also told the firm would take care of the process.
Initially Ms Reeves was adamant that she had not been made aware that a licence was necessary.
However, within hours of the bombshell news emerging Sir Keir had again given Ms Reeves a clean bill of health.
Rachel Reeves, pictured with her husband Nicholas Joicey, admitted last night that she had misled the PM and his sleaze adviser over whether she knew a licence was needed to rent out her family home
Within hours of the bombshell news emerging Keir Starmer had again given Ms Reeves a clean bill of health
In a second letter to the Prime Minister in the space of 24 hours, the Chancellor wrote to ‘update’ Sir Keir Starmer over the blunder that has plunged her into jeopardy
The emails showed that the letting agent referred to the need for a licence
Although he swiped that her failure to give the right information initially was ‘regrettable’, Sir Keir said she had acted ‘in good faith’.
The latest effort to sweep the issue under the carpet comes despite Ms Reeves potentially still facing repaying £38,000 in rent to the tenants.
Downing Street will be breathing a sigh of relief that the shambles has been partly overshadowed by the removal of Andrew’s royal titles and status as a prince.
The Daily Mail exclusively revealed on Wednesday night that since entering Downing Street the Chancellor had been letting her family home without a licence.
Ms Reeves had claimed that she and her husband, Nicholas Joicey, were unaware that they needed to secure a ‘selective’ rental licence.
But emails released by No10 last night revealed extensive conversations between Mr Joicey and their letting agent in which they were informed of the need for a licence.
Ms Reeves conceded in a letter to the Prime Minister yesterday that she accepted it was her responsibility to secure the licence.
She said: ‘Today the letting agency and my husband have found correspondence confirming that on 17th July, 2024, the letting agent said to my husband that a Selective Licence would be required and agreed that the agency would apply for the licence on our behalf.
The Daily Mail exclusively revealed on Wednesday night that the Chancellor had been renting out her family home (pictured) without a licence since entering Downing Street
‘They have also confirmed today they did not take the application forward, in part due to a member of staff leaving.
‘Nevertheless, as I said yesterday, I accept it was our responsibility to secure the licence. I also take responsibility for not finding this information yesterday and bringing it to your attention.’
Within hours Downing Street released new conclusions from standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, along with a letter from Sir Keir saying: ‘I still regard this as a case of an inadvertent failure to secure the appropriate licence, which you have apologised for and are now rectifying.’
He added: ‘Having consulted the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards and received his clear and swift advice, with which I concur, I see no need for any further action.’
Sir Keir said it was ‘regrettable’ that she had not shared the information in her first letter to him about the matter on Wednesday, but said he accepted she was
‘It would clearly have been better if you and your husband had conducted a full trawl through all email correspondence with the estate agency before writing to me yesterday,’ the Labour leader said.
Sir Laurie said that after seeing the emails, he still believed Ms Reeves made an ‘unfortunate but inadvertent error’.
In a letter to Sir Keir, he said he found ‘no evidence of bad faith’ in Ms Reeves’s contradicting statements about her awareness of the need for the licence.
