Angela Rayner, the British deputy prime minister, resigned on Friday after she admitted underpaying property tax on a new home, in a new blow for her boss, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, local media reported.
Rayner, 45, is the eighth, and the most senior, ministerial departure from Starmer’s team, and the most damaging yet after the British leader offered her his full support when she was first accused of deliberately trying to avoid paying the correct tax rate.
With Labour trailing Britain’s populist Reform UK in the polls, Starmer faces yet more challenges in trying to repair his authority and his party’s image, which has previously been hit by accusations of hypocrisy by critics over accepting expensive items including clothing and concert tickets from donors.
Losing his deputy is particularly damaging, especially as Rayner, who rose from a working-class teenage mother to one of Britain’s highest political positions, had been able to mediate between Labour’s left and centrist wings to keep the party united, and had a wider appeal than Starmer.
