An old-fashioned scalp Rayner's admission gave opponents an open goal

An old-fashioned scalp

- Michael Savage

Angela Rayner's departure from cabinet marks an abrupt end for a politician who had fought doggedly to reach Labour's top table. It also represents an old-fashioned scalp for the press, elements of which have been poring over her finances and living arrangements for more than a year.

The frustration among Rayner's friends is that she had survived waves of stories aimed at derailing her political career. However, they say her admission that she did not pay the correct stamp duty on the purchase of a Hove flat, which some see as a maddening own goal, gave her opponents a clear opening.

The Telegraph was already claiming victory on Wednesday, reliving how it had exposed details of the Labour deputy leader's tax arrangements on the flat purchase at the end of last week.

It followed Rayner's lengthy admission that an error had been made, which she said had come after incorrect advice. However, her statement also revealed complicated personal circumstances that included a court order, a divorce, shifting living arrangements and a trust set up to support her disabled son.