Keir Starmer opens the door for ex-Deputy PM Angela Rayner’s return after she was forced to quit in September over not paying enough stamp duty on her seaside home in Hove
Keir Starmer has suggested he wants Angela Rayner back in the Cabinet before the next general election.
The PM hinted that he misses the former Deputy PM and said he still talks to “Angie” a lot. Asked if there could be a comeback for her to the Cabinet this side of a general election, Mr Starmer told reporters at the G20 summit: “I’ve always said I want Angela back. Even back in September at the time I said she is going to be a big voice in the Labour movement.
“But do I want Angela back at some stage? Yes absolutely. I think she is the best example ever in the United Kingdom of social mobility – going from a pretty challenging childhood to being deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She is the story of social mobility above all other stories.”
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Pressed whether he misses having her around the place, the PM added: “I’m friends with Angie and I like Angie a lot and we talk a lot. We still do. It’s always good to have Angela.”
Ms Rayner was forced to resign as Housing Secretary, Deputy PM, and her elected position as Labour’s deputy leader, in September after admitting not paying enough stamp duty on her seaside home in Hove.
The PM’s ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus ruled at the time she had broken the rules by underpaying the tax by £40,000 on the property in East Sussex. The rapid probe said she had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service” – but found she had breached the ministerial code.
In her resignation statement last month, Ms Rayner said HMRC has her “full cooperation”, adding: “There is no excuse not to pay taxes owed, and I will do so. This was an honestly made mistake, but when you make a mistake you take responsibility.”
Last week in an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Ms Rayner insisted she’d “not gone away” when asked if she would return to frontline politics. She said: “I’m really humbled and I always have been, the people of Ashton-under-Lyne have always supported me.
“The 10 years that I’ve been in government I’ve had quite a number of front bench positions, and I’ve always brought it back to the people that I was there to represent and having this opportunity now, to be more in the constituency and to champion those views is something that I’m humbled to do and I’m looking forward to the challenge.
“I’ve got a lot of interests like child poverty, the fair pay agreement, and making sure the Employment Rights Bill is carried out in full.”