Angela's Rayn is over

KEIR Starmer has carried out a major shake-up of his top team after Angela Rayner dramatically quit yesterday over her tax affairs.

- BY LIZZY BUCHAN

She resigned as Deputy Prime Minister, Housing Secretary and Labour's deputy leader after the PM's ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus ruled she breached the ministerial code by underpaying £40,000 in stamp duty on her seaside flat in East Sussex.

But the watchdog added she had "acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service".

Rayner's departure is a significant blow to the Prime Minister who had offered her his backing.

She said in her resignation letter to the PM: "I take full responsibility for this error.

"I would like to take this opportunity to repeat it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount." She said the strain on her children from the episode had become "unbearable".

In a highly personal handwritten letter, Starmer said Rayner would remain a major figure in the party.