Healey says Rayner ‘not a victim’ amid Labour reshuffle discontent

Angela Rayner is “not a victim” and “any government is stronger” with her, a Cabinet minister has said after a reshuffle following her resignation saw tensions flare within Labour.

Defence Secretary John Healey defended Sir Keir Starmer’s “clear, swift, fair action” following his former deputy’s admission that she mistakenly underpaid stamp duty on a seaside flat she bought earlier this year.

It comes as speculation mounts over who could replace Ms Rayner as deputy Labour leader, with Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry already confirming she is considering running for the job.

Ms Rayner quit as housing secretary, deputy leader and deputy prime minister after the Prime Minister’s ethics watchdog found she had breached the ministerial code, triggering an early Government reshuffle.

Mr Healey said the new-look Cabinet meant a “good team” was now in place to deliver policy after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham expressed concerns about the “balance” within Sir Keir’s Government.

He rejected suggestions made by Mr Burnham that the leadership needed to change its treatment of backbenchers by showing them more “respect” following a row over the Government’s welfare reforms earlier this year.

“I dispute that. Our focus has been on the public that elected us, the delivery that we’re charged to change their lives. It’s a big part of the job we all do,” he told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

“Our Government will miss Angela Rayner. She’s not been a victim. She’s been under a lot of pressure and Andy Burnham’s right about that.

“But she’s been an inspiration to many, particularly working-class women.”

He added: “Any government is stronger with Angela Rayner but we’ve got a good new team in place and that’s our job.”

The Prime Minister is seeking to draw a line under the damaging fallout from his former deputy’s breach of the ministerial code after she admitted to mistakenly underpaying a surcharge on a property in Hove in May.

An investigation by the independent ethics adviser found she had acted in “good faith” but that “the responsibility of any taxpayer for reporting their tax returns and settling their liabilities rests ultimately with themselves.”

Sir Keir carried out a major reshuffle of his Cabinet and junior ministers following Ms Rayner’s departure, telling his new-look team to “go up a gear” with delivery in the wake of the scandal.

But he now faces the prospect of a party conference overshadowed by manoeuvring for the deputy leadership role vacated by Ms Rayner, who was popular among grassroots and seen as a bridge between No 10 and the wider party.

Labour’s governing National Executive Committee (NEC) is expected to meet on Monday to decide how to move forward with the internal contest to replace her.

On Sunday, Mr Healey dismissed the idea that former foreign secretary David Lammy’s appointment as Deputy Prime Minister meant he was the Prime Minister’s preferred candidate for the role.

“They’re two separate jobs, two very important jobs. The deputy leader of the Labour Party is an important job and an important vote for Labour Party members,” he told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

Mr Burnham backed Louise Haigh, who resigned as transport secretary last year after it emerged she had previously been convicted of a fraud offence, or former Commons leader Lucy Powell.

Ms Powell was sacked as part of Sir Keir’s Cabinet shake-up this week while Ms Haigh left Government in November after it emerged she had admitted to incorrectly telling police a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013.

Asked what kind of candidate he would support for the deputy leadership spot, Mr Burnham said: “Obviously, I’m biased, but somebody from these parts I think would be great.

“Louise Haigh, possibly Lucy Powell, who I think did a brilliant job in government.”

He said a voice from the north of England would help to counter what he called the “London centricity” of the existing leadership.

Meanwhile Islington South and Finsbury MP Dame Emily told the BBC: “I’m thinking about it. It’s really a question of what can I bring to it.

“I hear what is said about the deputy leader should come from Manchester, and obviously the mayor of Manchester would say that. I’m sure that people would say they should come from Wales or from Scotland or – what’s important is what you bring.

“Do you have the strength? Do you have the experience? Can you actually make a difference? And I’ve got to kind of think about that.”

Some Labour backbenchers were highly critical of the changes in the reshuffle and expressed concerns about what they meant for the party’s direction of travel.

“Angela made an unbalanced Cabinet look slightly more balanced,” one told the PA news agency.

“But it was almost entirely skin deep and cosmetic. On literally every major issue she has tucked in behind them. A few leaked memos do not a left-wing policy agenda, make.

“Now even the semblance of that illusion is gone. Maybe for the party overall that’s for the better in the long run.”

They added that “Starmer just signed his own death warrant” and “has to be gone before (Christmas).”

Liverpool Riverside Labour MP Kim Johnson said the reshuffle looked like “moving deck chairs on Titanic” and “creating a London elite”.

“The Labour Party is a broad church, this is certainly not represented with this reshuffle,” she said.

It is unclear whether Ms Rayner will take severance pay following her resignation, but Mr Jones said it would a “decision personally for her, as opposed to the Prime Minister”.

Meanwhile, Ms Rayner is facing Opposition pressure to reject a severance payment which ministers are entitled to when they leave Cabinet.

New Labour rules coming into force in October will allow the Prime Minister to deny a golden goodbye to any members of Government found to have committed a “serious breach” of the ministerial code.

But ministers have said that because Ms Rayner’s departure comes before the changes kick in, it is a decision for her whether or not she takes the payment, which could be as much as £16,876 under existing rules.