Starmer really didn’t need this, not least because of the three roles Rayner heldpublished at 14:27 British Summer Time
14:27 BST
Chris Mason
Political editor
Friday is meant to be one of the quieter days in politics.
What happened, and this has become increasingly clear hour-by-hour since Wednesday, is that Angela Rayner had not done as much as she needed to do in that initial process of buying a flat in Hove.
What is interesting in the analysis of the ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus is hat he said she acted with integrity and wit – a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service.
It acknowledges that she thought she had done enough in the first instance to work out which rate of stamp duty she would have to pay.
But in the end, as she had acknowledged, she hadn’t been as diligent as she could’ve been and for that reason there was a breach in the ministerial code.
So, there’s nuance there in his tone but there wasn’t a nuance in his conclusion and having breached the code it was inevitable that she would’ve been on her way out of government.
This afternoon, Starmer will now try and turn a desperately difficult week for the government into an opportunity.
There’s going to be a wider government reshuffle at cabinet level. Sources in government are telling me that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not move. By saying that, you’re implying that plenty of other people very well might be in the coming hours.
From Starmer’s perspective, he really, really didn’t need this, not least because of the three jobs Rayner occupied. She could’ve stayed in her role as deputy leader of the Labour Party, an elected role. Now she has resigned, it begins a process that Starmer isn’t entirely in charge of.
There’s also the question of what a figure like Rayner, with her prominence and distinctive voice, does from the backbenches.