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Angela Rayner, Britain's deputy prime minister, the Labour Party's number two and one of the strongest figures in the union wing, resigned on September 5 after a fiscal scandal.
She had paid the wrong tax on an apartment she bought in Hove, a mistake that critics say amounts to hypocrisy for a politician who has been attacking rivals for years for tax violations.
From union hopes to fiscal scandal
In May 2025, Rayner bought an £800,000 flat and paid around £30,000 in property tax, registering it as her main home. But it later emerged that she was legally required to pay the higher rate for second homes, around £70,000. The reason was an inherited flat in northwest England, which had been transferred into a trust for her disabled minor son but which, by law, still belonged to her.
Legal advisers had suggested she seek advice from tax experts, but she did not. A swift investigation by the government's ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, found this a breach of the Ministerial Code, which requires the highest standards of public conduct.
A strange partnership that ended
Rayner and Prime Minister Keir Starmer had been an unlikely pair. He, a tough, reserved former lawyer; she, a former caretaker with no college education, raised in unions and known for her harsh language towards opponents. For years, Rayner was seen as the voice of Labour’s left-wing base and a potential successor to Starmer.
In her resignation letter, she admitted that the exposure of her private life had been “unbearable.” Starmer, in a handwritten letter, called her a “trusted friend and close colleague.”
Consequences for the Labour government
Rayner's resignation has significantly weakened a government already facing falling support. According to a poll by The Economist, Labour has fallen to just 21% of the electorate.
In the new cabinet:
David Lammy has been appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Justice, after serving as Foreign Minister.
Shabana Mahmood took over as Minister of Interior at a time when immigration and the management of asylum seekers are key challenges.
Yvette Cooper moved to the Foreign Ministry.
However, these moves are seen as insufficient to revive the government's fortunes.
New battle within Labor
The decision to choose a new deputy leader will ignite a contest within the Labour Party. Traditionally, the post is seen as a voice of the membership versus the leadership. The candidates are expected to represent the discontent of the left wing, turning the race into a referendum on Starmer's leadership.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party, which is leading in the polls, immediately exploited the crisis, comparing it to the ideological divisions that rocked Labour in the 1980s.
From attacker to attacked
Rayner was for years the "attack dog" of Labour against the Conservatives, especially when the latter were accused of fiscal scandals. Now she herself was brought down precisely by a tax error. In British politics, the greatest sin is hypocrisy, and this cost her a place in government.
But her political career doesn't seem over. In her resignation letter, she recalled her personal journey: an uneducated single mother working as a carer and rising to the top of British politics. It's likely that this will be just a hiatus, not the end, of her career.
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