Just two months ago, Rachel Reeves was wiping away tears on the frontbench during Prime Minister’s Questions while Angela Rayner smiled nearby.
But yesterday the tables appeared to have turned, with the Chancellor looking cheerful as the Deputy Prime Minister cast a glum appearance along the green bench.
On both occasions, the senior Labour cabinet ministers were sat either side of Sir Keir Starmer as he answered questions from the despatch box.
But unlike Ms Reeves’ tearful appearance, where Sir Keir appeared not to notice, he was seen apparently consoling Ms Rayner with a supportive pat on the shoulder soon after she entered the Commons chamber yesterday.
Ms Rayner appeared in the Commons just half an hour after she gave an emotional TV interview admitting she had underpaid tax when buying a flat in Hove in May.
The Deputy Prime Minister said she had been ‘in shock’ and ‘devastated’ over the fallout from the row over her property arrangements.
Asked whether she had considered resigning, she told Sky News that she had ‘spoken to my family about it’ and that she had ‘been in shock, really, because I thought I’d done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received, and I’m devastated because I’ve always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that’.
Sir Keir told MPs during PMQs that Ms Rayner had ‘explained her personal circumstances in detail’ and gone ‘over and above in setting out the details including… asking a court to lift a confidentiality order in relation to her own son’.
Rachel Reeves was seen wiping away tears in The Commons in July, while Rayner seemed unfazed
Just two months later Rayner cast a glum appearance while the Chancellor gave a cheerful smile
‘I know from speaking at length to the Deputy Prime Minister just how difficult that decision was for her. But she did it to ensure that all information is in the public domain,’ the Prime Minister said.
‘She has now referred herself to the independent adviser. That is the right thing to do. But I can be clear, I am very proud to sit alongside a Deputy Prime Minister who is building 1.5 million homes, who is bringing the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights for generations, and who has come from a working-class background to become Deputy Prime Minister.’
Angela Rayner’s political future appears in the hands of Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards.
Ms Rayner said she will be provide the ethics adviser with her ‘fullest co-operation and access to all the information he requires’.
Sir Laurie will rule on whether Ms Rayner breached standards.
Any breach will surely place her political future in doubt after she was considered among the frontrunners to become a future Labour Party leader.
Pressed on whether she had considered standing down, she said she had ‘spoken to my family about it’ and ‘the number one priority for me and my ex-husband has always been to support our children and do the best thing for our children’.
Her supporters admitted last night that the Deputy PM’s habit of attracting scandal could harm her chances of becoming prime minister.
Asked whether she had considered resigning, she told Sky News that she had ‘spoken to my family about it’
Rayner was previously considered among the frontrunners to become a future Labour Party leader
Angela Rayner’s political future appears in the hands of Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards
The Deputy Prime Minister was among the bookies’ favourites to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Labour’s approval ratings continue to slump under his leadership.
She has played this down, but before the scandal her assured performance as housing secretary had been noticed.
But Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing Secretary, is currently facing fresh questions over her property arrangements.
The Tories have called for a probe into her tax affairs following reports she escaped paying £40,000 in stamp duty on her new seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex.
Allies of Ms Rayner told The Times that her desire for privacy meant questions over her living arrangements had lingered for longer than necessary.
One MP said: ‘The problem for Angie is the right keep attacking her, but would that become a distraction if she was leader? I don’t know.’
Another Labour figure, who is not a supporter of the Deputy PM, said the current row shows ‘just how open to being brought down by scandal she is, just as people are thinking about alternate PMs’.
But others suggested Ms Rayner would be ‘strengthened’ by the criticism and attacks by the Tories could be a ‘badge of honour’ for her.
Her supporters admitted that the Deputy PM’s habit of attracting scandal could harm her chances of becoming prime minister
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner addresses a reception for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 winners England in the garden at 10 Downing Street in July
It comes as it was claimed last night that Rayner used some of her disabled son’s NHS compensation to buy her second home.
She received £162,500 from a trust fund set up to care for 17-year-old Charlie, who was born prematurely.
The money, which she put towards the deposit on her £800,000 Hove apartment, was paid to her when she sold a 25 per cent share of her house in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, to the trust.
Ms Rayner said on Wednesday that the home had been adapted for her son’s special needs, and she had transferred her share of the house to the trust to ensure he had ‘stability in the family home’.
She said her son had received an award in 2020. The Telegraph said it followed an 11-year legal battle waged between the Rayners and the hospital where her son was born in 2008, weighing less than 1 lb, that resulted in the NHS paying compensation.
The Labour MP has previously suggested a locum doctor made an error that contributed to his lifelong disabilities. It is unclear how much money was paid out as part of the NHS damages claim. The Rayners set up the trust in 2020. In 2023, they transferred half the ownership of the house into it.
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust declined to reveal details of any settlement reached, saying ‘these are confidential patient matters’.
A former Labour MP has said it is ‘obvious’ Angela Rayner must resign following her admission she didn’t pay enough stamp duty.
Simon Danczuk, who represented Labour in Rochdale for seven years in Parliament but has now switched to Reform, told the Telegraph: ‘Obviously, Angela Rayner must now resign.
‘But it’s important to note those politicians consoling, supporting, defending her are as much part of the problem. They too bring British politics into disrepute. The public expect this wrong doing to be punished, not sympathised with.’
