Keir Starmer tore up his failing Cabinet today as panic engulfed Labour after Angela Rayner‘s dramatic exit.
The PM is moving Yvette Cooper from the Home Office in an apparent admission that borders policy is not working, after a torrid summer of migration protests.
Meanwhile, Liz Kendall is going from the Department of Work and Pensions to the science brief – having overseen the disastrous winter fuel allowance cuts and abortive effort to curb the benefits bill.
David Lammy is thought to have been transferred from Foreign Office to Justice, despite Downing Street previously guaranteeing he would stay in that job. But he will be made Deputy PM to avoid the appearance of a demotion.
Shabana Mahmood looks set to take over at Home Affairs. Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden will now head up a ‘super-ministry’ including the DWP and skills responsibilities, which are being stripped from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
The extraordinary scale of the changes has sent Westminster into shock, after briefing that there would only be limited tweaks below Cabinet level this month.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves might be the only senior minister to cling on to their role, despite a welter of criticism over the stalling economy and fears the country is heading for a debt crisis.
Sir Keir has been left scrambling to stabilise his government following the departure of Ms Rayner from her posts of Deputy PM, Housing Secretary and deputy Labour leader.
Standards watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that Ms Rayner had tried to act with ‘integrity’ but still fell short of the standards required in government, failing to pay tens of thousands of pounds of stamp duty.
In a letter to Sir Keir, Ms Rayner stressed the ‘strain’ that the furore had put on her family. She said she ‘deeply regretted’ not having sought expert tax advice – even though she had received an explicit recommendation to do so.
Downing Street released a handwritten response from the premier saying he was ‘sad’ about the circumstances because Ms Rayner has ‘given her all’, but it was the ‘right decision’.
The PM is moving Yvette Cooper (left) from the Home Office in an apparent admission that borders policy needs an overhaul, after a torrid summer of migration protests. Sources said Liz Kendall (right) is being shifted from Work and Pensions to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
David Lammy is thought to have been transferred from Foreign Office to Justice, despite Downing Street previously guaranteeing he would stay in that job
Angela Rayner has left government today after a report into her tax fiasco
Sir Keir Starmer had indicated he was ready to sack Ms Rayner if she has broken the ministerial code
In a letter to Sir Keir, she said that she was resigning from government and her party job, stressing the ‘strain’ that the furore had put on her family
Downing Street released a handwritten response from the premier saying he was ‘sad’ about the circumstances because Ms Rayner has ‘given your all’, but it was the ‘right decision’
Commons Leader Lucy Powell and Scotland Secretary Ian Murray are early casualties of the latest overhaul, with more big beasts believed to be at risk
Ms Powell said it had been an ‘honour’ to serve as House of Commons Leader
Mr Murray said he was ‘disappointed’ to leave the Scotland brief, complaining about the ‘dreadful legacy’ from the Tories
Ms Rayner’s departure as deputy Labour leader – a separate elected post – triggers what could be a deeply divisive contest.
Cabinet ministers – who had frantically rallied round Ms Rayner in recent days and even suggested she was being persecuted for working class roots – heaped praise on her. Ed Miliband described her as ‘one of the great political figures of our time’, as an apparent operation to save her career from total ruin kicked off.
However, Kemi Badenoch said Ms Rayner’s position had been ‘untenable for days’ and Sir Keir should have had the ‘backbone’ to sack her before.
Nigel Farage brought forward his Reform conference speech in Birmingham to respond to the developments, condemning the sense of ‘entitlement’ at the top of Labour.
Commons Leader Lucy Powell and Scotland Secretary Ian Murray were early casualties of the latest overhaul.
Confirming she had been ousted from government, Ms Powell said it had been an ‘honour’ to serve and pointed to the ‘difficult’ period for Labour.
Mr Murray said he was ‘disappointed’ to leave the Scotland brief, complaining about the ‘dreadful legacy’ from the Tories.
Sir Laurie said in his report: ‘Given the conjunction of the acknowledged complexity of her family circumstances, her position in Government (most importantly as Deputy Prime Minister) and the consequences of getting such a calculation wrong, it is deeply regrettable that the specific tax advice was not sought.
‘I believe Ms Rayner has acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service.
‘I consider, however, that her unfortunate failure to settle her SDLT liability at the correct level, coupled with the fact that this was established only following intensive public scrutiny, leads me to advise you that, in relation to this matter, she cannot be considered to have met the ‘highest possible standards of proper conduct’ as envisaged by the Code.
‘Accordingly, it is with deep regret that I must advise you that in these circumstances, I consider the Code to have been breached.’
Sir Laurie said: ‘She believed that she relied on the legal advice she had received, but unfortunately did not heed the caution contained within it, which acknowledged that it did not constitute expert tax advice and which suggested that expert advice be sought.
‘I am conscious of the acute challenges ministers face – perhaps uniquely – in managing the demands of their personal lives and their public responsibilities.
‘However, the responsibility of any taxpayer for reporting their tax returns and settling their liabilities rests ultimately with themselves.’
As well as having to pay the extra £40,000 in stamp duty, tax experts have warned that Ms Rayner is likely to face a penalty of up to 30 per cent of the sum for her blunder.
She wrote in her resignation letter to the PM: ‘I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements.
‘I take full responsibility for this error. I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.
‘I must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family. While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly.
‘I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.
‘Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.’
In his reply, Sir Keir said: ‘Although I believe you have reached the right decision, it is a decision which I know is very painful for you.
‘You have given your all to making the Labour Government a success and you have been a central part of our plan to make Britain fairer for working families…
‘On a personal note, I am very sad to be losing you from the Government. You have been a trusted colleague and a true friend for many years.
‘I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievements in politics. I know that many people of all political persuasions admire that someone as talented as you is the living embodiment of social mobility.’
Ms Rayner’s prospects had looked increasingly bleak after Sir Keir refused to rule out sacking her yesterday, insisting he would ‘act’ on the findings from Sir Laurie.
Furious lawyers broke cover to accuse Ms Rayner of trying to make them ‘scapegoats’ for her underpaying stamp duty.
Sir Laurie Magnus looked into whether Ms Rayner broke the ministerial code, following her admission that she did not pay enough stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove (pictured) this year
Cabinet ministers – who had desperately rallied round Ms Rayner in recent days and even suggested she was being persecuted for working class roots – heaped praise on her
Senior Labour figures mobilised amid signs of an effort to salvage Ms Rayner’s career
DOWNFALL OF THE RED QUEEN: HOW ANGELA RAYNER’S CAREER UNRAVELLED
Thursday 21 August 2025
Angela Rayner’s downfall can be traced back to this Daily Mail exclusive photograph snapped by an eagle-eyed reader of the Deputy Prime Minister on the beach clad in a camouflage and pink DryRobe, sipping a large glass of rosé wine. It was published in the Daily Mail on 21 August.
How it all began: spotted on a public beach, Angela Rayner’s presence in Hove, East Sussex, led to revelations about her new seaside flat and the tax she failed to pay on it
Sunday 24 August
The Mail on Sunday then investigated a report from a second reader that Ms Rayner had bought a flat in Hove. Its revelations published three days later were that she had bought an £800,000 apartment, at a time when her department was cracking down on second-home owners.
And at this point the case of ‘three pads Rayner’ began to gather more political momentum.
She was described in this way because, as well as the Hove flat, she already has an opulent government-provided grace-and-favour apartment in central London, as well as her constituency home in Manchester which was described as her ‘main family home’. There were calls for her to ‘come clean’ about where she was paying council tax, and for how much, given that her own department had declared war on second-home owners by forcing them to pay double.
Thursday 28 August
Within four days, it became clear that Ms Rayner had told one story to the taxman, and another to the local council. Serious questions were raised over whether she had dodged £40,000 in stamp duty when buying her £800,000 seaside apartment.
The light and airy apartment’s large living room boasts sweeping views of Hove’s seafront
Ms Rayner had claimed to HMRC that the Hove property would be her principal residence. Saying it was her main property, for stamp duty purposes, meant she saved having to pay the higher rate for second homes, which would have been £70,000. She paid the lower rate of £30,000. A spokesperson for Ms Rayner stated she had paid the ‘correct duty’ on the purchase. This turned out to be wrong.
The stench around her property affairs grew more pungent when it became clear she had told officials at Brighton and Hove Council a different story – that it would be her second home. This meant she saved money on council tax too. (Because you pay double for a second home, and if she had designated her constituency house in Ashton-upon-Lyne as her second home, it would have cost her more because the council tax there is higher.)
Friday 29 August
The Conservatives announced they had written to Sir Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s ethics adviser, asking him to investigate Ms Rayner’s tax affairs. The Deputy Prime Minister instructed a senior lawyer to review her tax position that evening.
Saturday 30 August
Ms Rayner stonewalls as the questions flood in, but sources close to her insisted that the Ashton house remained her primary residence because her children still lived there. They said she regularly visited them – although some neighbours argued they rarely saw her.
The embattled Deputy Prime Minister already accused of ‘flipping’ the designation of her main home to limit her liabilities for stamp duty and council tax split the ownership of her £650,000 constituency home (pictured) with a trust administered by blue-chip law firm Shoosmiths
Bewildering explanations started being offered: including that she needed the Hove property to be ‘closer to Westminster’, despite Hove being 50 miles away from Westminster where she has a grace-and-favour apartment in Admiralty House.
Sunday 31 August
The Mail on Sunday on August 31
The story got murkier when the Mail on Sunday revealed Ms Rayner had used a top wealth protection firm into her property affairs, sparking a whole series of fresh questions about the dealings of a politician who prides herself on giving straight answers.
She split the ownership of her £650,000 constituency home with a trust administered by blue-chip law firm Shoosmiths.
At the time of the deal, in 2023, the company boasted that it had a dedicated ‘wealth protection team’ to help its private clients.
Monday 1 September
Downing Street told journalists Ms Rayner wanted to say more but could not give further details of her situation due to a court order, which she was ‘urgently’ trying to lift. Shortly afterwards, Sir Keir Starmer gave a BBC interview attacking his deputy’s critics – claiming they were making a mistake.
Tuesday 2 September
The court order was lifted late in the evening.
Wednesday 3 September
The senior lawyer’s final legal opinion was received in the morning, with Ms Rayner contacting HMRC and referring herself for investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’s ethics adviser.
Shortly before Sir Keir was due to appear at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Rayner released a statement and gave a tearful interview to Sky News admitting she should have paid the higher rate of stamp duty when purchasing the Hove flat. This is because, even though she no longer owned her constituency home, the tax arrangements were complex because she had sold her share to a trust set up for her disabled son.
In a tearful TV interview, a ‘devastated’ Angela Rayner revealed she has referred herself to an ethics watchdog to investigate whether she had broken ministerial rules
Yet she denied she had tried to dodge the extra tax. And fatefully she tried to pin the blame on her lawyers for giving her duff advice. She said she paid the lower rate of stamp duty thought the ‘mistake’ on ‘legal advice that I received that said that I was liable to pay the standard stamp duty’.
Thursday 4 September
Mr Rayner’s furious lawyers hit back. In a devastating riposte, high-street conveyancing firm Verrico & Associates insisted they had acted ‘on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner’. In a withering condemnation, the family firm’s 82-year-old managing director Joanna Verrico said they were being made scapegoats and ‘I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it’. Mrs Verrico denied her firm gave Ms Rayner any tax advice. This was undoubtedly the torpedo that sunk the Deputy Prime Minister.
Conveyancing lawyer Joanna Verrico said: ‘We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.’
Friday 5 September
Ethics adviser Sir Laurie delivered his report to the PM, concluding Ms Rayner had broken ministerial standards. At midday, Angela Rayner quit as Deputy Prime Minister, Housing Secretary and Deputy Leader of the Labour party.
Bizarrely, even as Ms Rayner’s demise emerged this morning the PM’s official spokesman was still insisting Sir Keir had ‘full confidence’ in her.
Confirming that Sir Keir had received the report from Sir Laurie, the spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister will read it and act upon it. He has a reputation for being comprehensive and quick.’
Ms Rayner gave a tearful interview on Wednesday in which she laid the blame for her troubles on her lawyers.
The row escalated again last night after high street conveyancing firm Verrico & Associates insisted they had acted ‘on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner’.
In a withering condemnation, the family firm’s 82-year-old managing director Joanna Verrico said they were being made scapegoats and added: ‘I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it.’
After days of stonewalling, Ms Rayner, 45, belatedly admitted underpaying £40,000 of stamp duty on the £800,000 seaside flat she bought in Hove in May.
She should have paid £70,000 instead of £30,000, but she blamed the ‘mistake’ on ‘legal advice that I received that said that I was liable to pay the standard stamp duty’.
Asked on Sky News this morning whether ministers should resign if they breach the rules, trade minister Douglas Alexander said: ‘All these matters are a matter for the Prime Minister.’
Challenged whether he trusted Ms Rayner, the minister told Times Radio: ‘Listen, I really want to live in a country in which someone with Angela Rayner’s circumstances and background can rise to one of the highest offices in the country.
‘I have to say I should declare an interest – I really like Angela Rayner.
‘We’re a rather improbable group of friends. We come from very different circumstances … if you look at the challenges that Angela Rayner has overcome, not only do I like and respect her but, yes, I think she’s in politics for the right reasons.’
Last night her version of events was dealt a serious blow by Verrico & Associates, based in Herne Bay, Kent, which issued a bombshell statement saying it had calculated the stamp duty ‘strictly based on the facts and information provided to us’ – and that it did not offer tax advice.
Mrs Verrico, who founded the practice in 1994 assisted by her three daughters, later told the Telegraph: ‘We acted for Ms Rayner when she purchased the flat in Hove. We did not and never have given tax or trust advice. It’s something we always refer our clients to an accountant or tax expert for.
‘The stamp duty for the Hove flat was calculated using HMRC’s own online calculator based on the figures and the information provided by Ms Rayner. That’s what we used and it told us we had to pay £30,000 based on the information provided to us.
‘We believe that we did everything correctly and in good faith. Everything was exactly as it should be.
‘We probably are being made scapegoats for all this and I have got the arrows stuck in my back to show it. We are not an inexperienced firm, but we’re not qualified to give advice on trust and tax matters and we advise clients to seek expert advice on these.’
Rayner’s £650,000 constituency home (pictured) in Ashton-under-Lyne
The Prime Minister vowed to ‘act on whatever the report is’ into his deputy’s tax affairs – but refused five times to guarantee her dismissal
Ms Rayner argued that she received at least three pieces of legal advice, including from the trust overseeing her disabled son’s affairs as well as from a conveyancer, supporting her initial position.
But Sir Laurie made clear that none of that advice constituted expert tax advice, and indeed one opinion recommended that she should get some.
MFG Solicitors of Kidderminster, which was involved in conveyancing at her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne, said it ‘did not act for Ms Rayner in the purchase of her property in Hove, nor did we provide any tax-related advice in relation to it’. And law firm Shoosmiths, which previously acted for her, also ruled itself out.
As the mystery grew over her flat purchase last week, Ms Rayner sought advice from a tax barrister – who told her this week that she had been wrong not to pay the higher amount of stamp duty, prompting her mea culpa on Wednesday.
Ms Badenoch said Ms Rayner’s position was ‘untenable for days’ after the Deputy Prime Minister admitted she underpaid stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove earlier this year.
In a video posted on X, Ms Badenoch said: ‘Angela Rayner is finally gone. It says everything about Keir Starmer’s weak leadership that he had to wait for a report before acting.
‘The truth is simple, she dodged tax. She lied about it. Her position was untenable for days.
‘Keir Starmer once promised honesty and integrity in politics, but when faced with this test, he hesitated: no principles, no backbone.
‘We Conservatives forced this investigation and were vindicated. But this isn’t the end. Questions remain. What did Keir Starmer know and when did he mislead the public?’
Last night Dan Neidle, a tax expert who has advised the Labour Party, tweeted: ‘It’s looking increasingly like Ms Rayner didn’t actually obtain tax advice before this week.’
Verrico is a small conveyancing firm that does not employ any qualified solicitors.
Instead, they are licensed conveyancers who only focus on property advice.
The barrister who gave Ms Rayner the later advice is reported to have been Jonathan Peacock, a tax specialist who has been a KC for nearly 25 years. It is understood she commissioned him last Friday and received a draft opinion on Monday – the day the Prime Minister was still insisting she had done nothing wrong.
