Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, has reshuffled his cabinet following the resignation on Friday of his deputy prime minister and housing secretary, Angela Rayner, for an estimated £40,000 underpayment of stamp duty on her new flat.
David Lammy is to be appointed as deputy prime minister to replace Ms Rayner, who also resigned as deputy leader of the Labour Party.
Mr Lammy also moves from the position of foreign secretary to be the new justice secretary, according to details of the reshuffle circulated among political journalists in Britain.
Yvette Cooper will move from home secretary to foreign secretary to replace Mr Lammy. Shabana Mahmood, a Muslim who is seen as being aligned with the right wing of the Labour Party, moves from the justice portfolio to take over as home secretary, putting her at the front line of the issue of small boats and asylum seekers, which has engulfed British politics this summer.
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Ian Murray said he was “hugely disappointed” to lose his job as secretary of state for Scotland, a move that was said to have caused unease in the Scottish Labour Party.
Meanwhile, the Labour government was mocked over the turmoil surrounding the departure of Ms Rayner by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who is emerging as a contender to become prime minister at the next Westminster election.
That is not scheduled until 2029, but Mr Farage told a cheering crowd at his party’s conference at the NEC in Birmingham on Friday that he believed an election could happen in 2027.
Mr Farage predicted a “big rift” in the Labour Party following the left-leaning Ms Rayner’s departure, and insisted that his party was “on the rise” and ready for government. “Folks, it’s happening,” he said.
Ms Rayner resigned after saying she deeply regretted her mistake of underpaying property tax on the new home.
After Britain’s independent adviser ruled that she had breached the ministerial code by failing to pay the correct tax, there was little Mr Starmer could do to protect his deputy, saying he was “very sad to be losing you from the government”, and describing her as a “trusted colleague and a true friend”.
Ms Rayner is the eighth, and the most senior, ministerial departure from Mr Starmer’s team, and the most damaging yet after the prime minister offered her his full support when she was first accused of avoiding tax on the transaction.
Mr Starmer has now suffered the most ministerial resignations, outside government reshuffles, of any prime minister at the beginning of their tenure in almost 50 years – more even than Boris Johnson in his chaotic period in office.
“I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice ... I take full responsibility for this error,” she said in her letter to Mr Starmer.
“Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign,” said Ms Rayner.
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The independent adviser on ministerial standards ruled Ms Rayner had broken the code because she had failed to heed the warning within the legal advice – which she said she had relied on – to seek expert advice on her complicated financial situation.
Ms Rayner had been forced to refer herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards on Wednesday after admitting that she had made a mistake over the tax payment.
In an interview in which she appeared close to tears, she described setting up a trust for one of her sons, who has lifelong disabilities as a result of an injury.
It was to that trust that she sold her share of her family home in northern England to pay for an apartment in the southern English seaside resort of Hove, believing she would not have to pay the higher rate of tax charged when buying a second home.
After starting to take further legal advice last week, a day after the allegations first surfaced, she then said on Wednesday she had made a mistake and was taking steps to pay the additional tax.
Rayner’s resignation as deputy Labour leader leaves the prime minister facing mounting problems in managing his often fractious party.
The deputy Labour leadership is a post directly elected by party members and a contest could swiftly become a public fight between the left and centre of the party.
Senior party figures predicted Starmer would try to defer the contest for as long as possible.
– Additional reporting: Reuters
