As far as Guido can tell the last time Angela Rayner gave a broadcast interview was to Good Morning Britain on January 31st. That is now 40 days in the media wilderness. The deputy leader of the Labour Party has been off our screens and avoiding questions about her tax avoiding for over a month. Of course there are some in the Leader of the Opposition’s office that might think keeping her out of the public eye is a welcome development. However as much as many of the Starmerites might privately welcome her demise they would not welcome a deputy leadership election in the run up to a general election. As one Labour veteran explained to Guido it would be “divisive, a rallying point for the last gasp of the left and we would probably end up with an anti-Zionist, pro-Palestine deputy leader.” So Labour are stuck and Keir Starmer will have to stand by Angela for fear of something worse.
It should not be forgotten that when Nadhim Zahawi had his run in with HMRC it was Angela Rayner who led the attack. She told BBC Breakfast: “The fact that Nadhim hasn’t been out on the airwaves explaining himself, to me, adds insult to injury, especially given that he called this smears…” She told the Commons that he had to “come clean” or go and opined on the weakness of his party leader on “failing to deliver the integrity, professionalism and accountability he promised.” Quite.
Guido can’t wait for Nick Robinson or Amol Rajan to cross examine her on Today for breakfast; “Why do all the neighbours say you are lying?” Kay Burley to tell her “I can see in your eyes you are not telling the truth”. Peter Oborne to moralise about Rayner continuing the rise of lying in politics. Sam Coates to shout at her “are you resigning?” Paul Brand emoting to camera about how the tax she avoided costs the NHS months of life-saving kidney dialysis for a child. That’s how it usually goes. right?
There are a few myths being put about by Angela’s allies regarding her tax position, one of which was posited in The Times by Dan Neidle the widely quoted tax sleuth and Labour campaigner. He estimates her tax bill could be only £1,500 – if she did renovations costing five figures. There is no evidence she did any renovations of that kind. Also some of her defenders are saying this was all before she was an MP. In March 2015 Rayner sold her home for a profit of £48,500, she would subsequently have filled out her self-assessed tax return as an elected MP. Even Dan Neidle thinks she “made a mistake” in thinking there was no tax on the capital gains to pay. Our fearless media will want her answers, won’t they?
