How Angela Rayner tried to shrug off law-breaking claims
Angela Rayner has repeatedly dismissed criminal allegations against her as a “Tory smear campaign”.
Now, however, Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy faces the very real prospect of a lengthy police investigation over claims she broke electoral law, and may owe tax related to the sale of a council house.
The announcement from Greater Manchester Police came following weeks of denials, accusations, counter-accusations, and lengthy commentary from tax experts.
The row over whether Ms Rayner owes tax on her property, what house she was living in, and what home she registered to vote at, is complicated.
It began following allegations made in an unauthorised biography of Ms Rayner by the former Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, published in March of this year.
In the book, titled “Red Queen”, it was reported that in January 2007, Ms Rayner, at the time a single mother, purchased a council house on Vicarage Road in Stockport for £79,000.
She paid bills and council tax and was registered to vote at the address.
Her then partner, Mark Rayner, a Unison official, owned a house in Lowndes Lane, around a mile away and the couple married in 2010.
She re-registered the births of their two sons that year, giving her husband’s address.
In March 2015, she sold her property for £127,500.
If it was her primary address, where she lived the majority of the time, she would have been exempt from a capital gains tax on the sale.
The seemingly innocuous story became a potential scandal, after it emerged that Ms Rayner may have in fact been living with her husband on Lowndes Lane.
If that was the case, she may not have been entitled to the exemption, and could potentially owe tax of up to £3,500.
When the allegations first emerged, Ms Rayner hit back, telling the BBC’s Newsnight: “I’ve been very clear, there’s no rules broken. They [the Conservatives] tried to manufacture a police investigation.
“They [the police] said there’s no issues there… It’s a non-story manufactured to try and smear me.”
During the interview, Ms Rayner said that at the time she sold her house she was a care worker and “didn’t have an accountant”.
She admitted, however, that since the allegations had been made she had sought expert tax advice to make sure that “she hadn’t done anything wrong”.
“I got that expert advice because if I did owe any capital gains tax, I would have said and I would have paid it.”
Ms Rayner added: “As I say, I sold it as most people would put it on the market, got the solicitor and the estate agents, etc. since those allegations were put to me, the tax laws on capital gains tax and principal private residency, etc. is very complex, including marriage.
“I got that advice that is categoric that I do not owe any capital gains tax on that.”
At this point, the issue was complicated further, after Ms Rayner was reported to police.
It was alleged that if, as had been reported, she did really live at her husband’s house, she may also have committed electoral fraud as she was registered to vote at her own home.
Under electoral rules, voters are expected to register at their permanent address. Anyone found guilty could face penalties for providing false information, such as a fine of up to £1,000.
If the offence is not deemed serious enough to warrant a criminal conviction, civil penalties can also be imposed.
Greater Manchester Police, after considering the allegations, which were made by Conservative MP James Daly, initially decided a criminal investigation was not warranted.
On March 27, the force said it was reassessing its decision not to investigate Ms Rayner after Mr Daly complained that crucial witnesses had not been contacted.
The next day, Ms Rayner’s birthday, the BBC’s Nick Robinson offered Ms Rayner an “easy way of dealing with all the questions”.
“Simply publish the [tax] advice?”, he suggested.
‘Show me yours, I’ll show you mine’
Ms Rayner said if Mr Daly, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt published their tax details for the last 15 years, she would do the same.
“If you show me yours, then I’ll show you mine,” she added.
Sir Keir, when asked about the growing questions Ms Rayner faced, said: “She’s not broken any rules, she’s in fact taken legal and tax advice which has satisfied her and us and me about the position.”
And then, on Sunday April 7, the Mail on Sunday discovered that there were more than 30 social media posts on Ms Rayner’s own timeline that appeared to contradict her claims that Vicarage Road was always her main home.
The paper carried out an investigation, and by cross-checking the images with pictures taken when the house was put on the market in 2015, discovered the majority were taken at Lowndes Lane.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, in November 2012 – five years after she bought the Vicarage Road property and four years before she sold it – says “I can cook”, alongside a picture of two of her children who are standing on the black floor tiles of the kitchen in Lowndes Lane.
Another, taken the same month, reads “play-Doh!!!” next to a picture of one of her children playing with the substance – with the Lowndes Lane garden clearly visible through the kitchen windows.
‘Just back from work’
In March 2014, Ms Rayner posted that she is “just back from work” and sitting with her cats on a multicoloured patchwork sofa that is in the Lowndes Lane pictures.
In February 2015 she posted that her “boys are home”, with a picture of her two youngest children in front of the Lowndes Lane tiles and cabinets again.
That same month, as she gears up for the 2015 general election, she posted an image of her doing an interview from the sofa at Lowndes Lane.
During this time, it also emerged, Ms Rayner’s brother was living “rent-free” at her house on Vicarage Road.
Neighbours then added further fuel to the fire by alleging that Ms Rayner definitely lived on Lowndes Lane with her husband, while her brother definitely lived at the Vicarage Road address
One woman said: “She wasn’t just visiting, she lived there.”
It later transpired, after The Telegraph went and spoke to neighbours again, that none had been contacted by police.
‘My team has seen it’
The day after the Mail ran the story, Sir Keir was again asked whether he had seen the tax advice given to Ms Rayner, and he admitted he hadn’t.
“I don’t need to see the legal advice, my team has seen it,” he said. It is understood that Labour officials have been through the advice “line by line”.
On Friday, Greater Manchester Police announced it had reassessed the decision and would now be conducting an investigation.
The force said: “We’re investigating whether any offences have been committed. This follows a reassessment of the information provided to us by Mr Daly.”
Often described as Labour’s attack dog, Angela Rayner has built a reputation for calling out Tory ministers over their tax affairs.
She was most vocal calling for the dismissal of Nadhim Zahawi, over questions about his tax affairs and repeatedly questioned the prime minister about his billionaire wife’s non-domiciled status.
Now, however, Ms Rayner is perhaps discovering that attack is not always the best form of defence.
‘Serious concerns’
It emerged this week that during a by-election in 2021, that Ms Rayner had written to Amanda Milling, the Tory chairman, in 2021, during the Hartlepool by-election campaign, regarding a Tory candidate’s husband spending time in the Cayman Islands.
She said she had “serious concerns” about the candidate, adding: “It is being reported that your candidate Jill Mortimer spent time living in a tax haven where her former husband worked as a banker.”
She then sent a series of questions about Mrs Mortimer’s family finances, before asking: “In the interests of transparency, will you now publish a full account of Jill Mortimer’s time in the Cayman Islands? Will you also order Jill Mortimer to publish in full her tax returns covering that period?”
In January 2022 Ms Rayner called for Boris Johnson to quit as prime minister after the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into whether he had breached lockdown rules.
“Hypocrisy is the worst of political sins”, Sir Simon Clarke, the former cabinet minister said.
Following the announcement of a police investigation, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps accused Ms Rayner of “double standards”.
“Angela Rayner herself has spent her political career calling people out for exactly the thing she seems to be doing now.”
Ms Rayner’s colleagues rallied round to protect their deputy leader on Friday afternoon, issuing statement after statement in support.
“She is an inspiration” and “exactly the kind of person we need in politics”, Ed Miliband, the shadow energy minister said.
Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, said he was confident Rayner, who he described as one of his “best friends”, would be vindicated following the police investigation.