Angela Rayner’s dubious housing situation from 2009 to 2015 was the talk of March. After it was revealed she sold her former council house – bought through the Right to Buy scheme – for a £48,500 profit, the question of whether she should’ve paid capital gains tax on it didn’t escape Guido’s eye. Rayner had registered her Vicarage Road home in Stockport as her main residence, yet her children were listed at her husband’s property just a mile away on Lowndes Lane. Her neighbour didn’t hold back, calling her a “f*cking liar” and claimed she was actually living at Lowndes Lane…
Guido also pointed out she would have breached electoral law by voting in multiple elections if she had been living with her husband, but still remained on the electoral roll at Vicarage Road. After Guido counted 43 days of dodging the media, Rayner finally faced the press, tearfully stonewalling and asking for “privacy” for her family. Meanwhile, any tax advice she received remains under wraps – despite her previous calls for Tory candidates to publish their tax returns. Perhaps that’s what finally pushed Owen Jones (40) to leave Labour that month…
It was further trouble in Talk Towers after Guido revealed that TalkTV is shifted off broadcast linear TV, becoming an online live streamer only instead now simply called Talk. Mass layoffs took place afterwards with two-thirds of the staff let go. They’re all YouTubers now…
Meanwhile the ever-rising GB News continued to be targeted by Ofcom after it ruled five GB News programmes hosted by Tory MPs broke impartiality rules. GB as usual didn’t shy away from slamming the “chilling” judgements while Farage blasted their “dirty tricks” to rule whether he was a ‘politician’ or not. Guido also revealed that economics editor Liam Halligan had quit GB News. He’s still proving hard to replace…
It was a tough month for the BBC, with “Disinformation Correspondent” Marianna Spring’s top scoop that “Trump supporters have been creating and sharing AI-generated fake images of black voters to encourage African Americans to vote Republican“ actually were just photos coming from an X parody account. The broadcaster also had to apologise for describing Reform as “far-right”…
Reform’s momentum rolled on, with Lee Anderson officially defecting to Reform to become their first MP, as did Tory Mayoral candidate for Greater Manchester, Dan Barker. Reform began to close the gap with the Tories in the polls, narrowing the difference to just four points that month. A trend that has only grown stronger since…
Honourable Mentions:
Headline of Month: Dan Wootton Wins Substantial Damages from Daily Mirror
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”