Sir Keir Starmer has been told during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) by the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to “grow a backbone and sack” Angela Rayner.
This comes as Rayner paid £40,000 less in stamp duty for her second home and admitted she has considered quitting; she has been strongly defended by Starmer.
The Prime Minister said that he is “very proud to sit alongside” Rayner who has come from a “working class background” and she is building homes.
The Deputy Prime Minister said she has been “in shock” and is “devastated” over the fallout and she referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards.
Rayner said she was given inaccurate tax advise and she spoke to her family about quitting as the Deputy Prime Minister.
Starmer criticised Badenoch saying that they have “spent year and years” trying to avoid accountability.
Rayner told Sky News, “I’ve been in shock, really, because I thought I’d done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received, and I’m devastated because I’ve always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that.
“That it is devastating for me and the fact that the reason why those confidential clauses were in place was to protect my son, who, through no fault of his own, he’s vulnerable, he’s got this life changing, lifelong conditions and I don’t want him or anything to do with his day-to-day life, to be subjected to that level of scrutiny.”
Rayner was asked if she had considered quitting, she said, “I spoke to my family about it. I spoke to my ex-husband, who has been an incredibly supportive person because he knows that all I’ve done is try and support my family and help them.
She continued, “It’s been quite a distressing time for my family. I have a court order that was in place around confidentiality regarding my son, my family and my divorce proceedings that happened in 2023.
And therefore, I wasn’t able to give a full account of the circumstances of our complex living arrangements. That order was lifted last night. I applied to have the order lifted so that I could give people the information.”
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