Keir Starmer must end this charade
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It has been almost two months since Angela Rayner’s tax affairs first made their way into the headlines. During this time, Sir Keir Starmer has stood by his deputy, attempting to wave aside questions over her potential liability for capital gains tax and her eligibility for Right to Buy as a mere distraction concocted by a hostile press. The news that Greater Manchester Police is formally investigating whether the Labour deputy has committed a criminal offence, however, must surely mark the end of such efforts.
Asked three times in an interview on Friday whether Ms Rayner should quit if found to have broken the law, Sir Keir skirted the issue, simply stating that “we need to let the police get on with their job”. By the evening, this stance had completely fallen apart, and Ms Rayner had promised to “do the right thing and step down” if found to have “committed a criminal offence”.
This carefully worded statement left as many questions as it answered. Would Ms Rayner also resign if, the police having decided to take no further action, she was found to have underpaid tax?
It is surely time for the Labour leadership to make a clean breast of things. Ms Rayner should make clear whether she would keep her role in such a circumstance, detail whether she has been in contact with HMRC, and publish the tax advice she received on the sale of her property. Sir Keir, meanwhile, should give a full account of Labour’s decision making, including what he was told and when.
There should be no doubt that this is a major challenge for Sir Keir. Ms Rayner is one of the Labour Party’s most recognisable figures, frequently deployed to the campaign trail to connect with voters. Despite the party’s high polling averages, Sir Keir will be keenly aware that he still has a great deal to do to secure the next election, not least in uniting various wings of his fractured party. Labour will accordingly surely wish to utilise Ms Rayner’s talents to the full – something that will be difficult to do with such serious questions hanging over her.
This is particularly the case given the manner in which Sir Keir has chosen to conduct his leadership, spending a great deal of time and effort promising to crack down on tax dodging, tighten the rules on right to buy and pledging to “restore standards in public life”. The questions raised by the sale of Ms Rayner’s home touch upon all three, the last most of all.
When Boris Johnson was investigated by the police for breaches of Covid rules, both Sir Keir and Ms Rayner called for his resignation based purely on the fact of that investigation. To opt now for evasion and obfuscation may only convince the electorate that Labour’s deputy leader has something to hide.
