Tax and property scandal fells UK deputy PM Angela Rayner, emboldens populist Nigel Farage
“I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements,” she said in a letter to Starmer.
“I take full responsibility for this error.
Angela Rayner and Keir Starmer on the campaign trail in 2024.Credit: Alamy
“I’ve always known that politics changes lives because it changed mine. The last Labour government gave me the tools I needed to build a better life for me and my young son.
“I will continue to serve you, our country and the party and movement I love in the weeks, months and years ahead.”
Starmer elevated former foreign secretary David Lammy as the new deputy leader and moved him to the justice portfolio, while appointing former home secretary Yvette Cooper as the new foreign secretary.
The speed of the change suggested that Starmer selected Lammy and Labour’s national executive council went along with his choice, avoiding the need for a ballot for the deputy leadership.
Capitalising on the disarray, Farage vowed to “make Britain great again” in front of supporters at a party conference, with plans to stop crime and turn away asylum seekers.
“Let’s make Britain great again,” he said, echoing the message from American president Donald Trump at last November’s presidential election.
“I’ve heard that phrase somewhere else before, but I agree with it.”
Farage, who has a longstanding friendship with Trump, met the president at the White House on Wednesday after appearing at a Congressional committee to warn against Labour policies in Britain to crack down on hate speech on major digital platforms.
Bringing his speech forward by several hours to respond to the turmoil in the government, Farage highlighted the recruitment of another former Conservative minister, Nadine Dorries, who joined Reform UK this week.
British Reform party leader Nigel Farage has vowed to “make Britain great again”.Credit: AP
While Farage has poached a series of Conservatives who are not in parliament, and now has stronger support than the former governing party in the latest opinion polls, his party has only four seats of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.
In his address to the party conference in Birmingham, he promised to stop the arrival of asylum seekers within two weeks of taking government, pledged a “stop and search” power for police to crack down on crime, and said he would scrap the country’s net zero climate target.
He also signalled some “serious cuts to the welfare budget” in future Reform UK policies.
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“I think there’s every chance now of a general election happening in 2027 and we must be ready for that moment,” he said.
The next election is not due until 2029, however, and Labour governs with 399 of the 650 seats in the Commons.
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