To think that surely Rayner has to go.

[Blankscreen]

Well well well.

So now it emerges that Rayner rearranged her property affairs and declared to HMRC that her new flat in Brighton is her main residence and saved £40k on the SDLT bill as a result.

She has then apparently declared to the local councils the complete opposite.

I'm sure slimeball Kier will defend and say it was perfectly legal blah blah blah.

Not to mention she has a grace and favour house funded by tax payers in London as her constituency office is so far away. Yet she 'lives' in Brighton - surely she could just commute that distance like may others do every day.

Surely she has to go.

I get your point, I don’t agree. They all get scrutiny but not for the same reasons.

Doesn't matter what the reasons are. He said she gets more criticism as she's working class. What about Liz Truss and Priti Patel? They were mocked mercilessly in the press.

Rayner actually got an easy ride. Look at Rigby's bum licky interview with teary Angie. She'd have ripped anyone else to shreds.

I’m not really sure what your point is. Yes, they were all criticised for different reasons. To pretend the tone of criticism of AR is not often class based - as criticism of Truss was based on her social climbing and falling out with her parents, or Patel’s clumsy speech - is a bit pointless. The media pick a perceived weakness and relentlessly target it. That’s how it works.

I just honestly don't know how as a politician you can't know if you need to pay stamp duty or not.

Genuinely if you didn't know then the wider question is the system must be too fucking complicated? As it took the media to find out - how many nobody's are missing it out?

I don’t recall Labour voters jumping to the defence of, for example, Sajid Javid and Nadine Dorries. They were fair game for constant attack and belittling by the left despite their working class backgrounds (both had bus driver dads), sex and ethnicity.

Why would you expect them to? Again, the media pick a weakness and run with it. I don’t think class was the one that haunted Javid. Dorries lent herself to mockery yet was quite beloved by the right wing media, despite some absolute car crash interviews. So no, I don’t think a class was a factor, because she was on the ‘right’ side. She certainly exploited every loophole open to her, employing her daughters, going on TV, her rather salacious book.

Nadine Dorries was attacked endlessly. She was working class. But she was indeed thick, and behaved laughably.

But that’s exactly the same as Rayner. Plus Rayner is a reckless loudmouth. That’s why the parodies of Rayner - like Intel Lady’s - are so funny. The left-wing press (and left-wing posters on here) love AR. They will leap to her defence every time and say that criticism of her is class-based and not because of her patent uselessness and unsuitability for high office.

But the left was happy to attack Dorries for being a poor politician and never thought class came into it.

Hypocrisy is the name of the game with Labour.

Nope, you re just making another sweeping statement..... imho the more that comes out, the more i think she should resign.

Someone of her position shd be taking top advice first.... not after the event.

Do you mean that attacks on Rayner were not generally condemned by the left as being class prejudice? If so we’ll have to disagree.

I’ve already said on this thread that I have a sneaking admiration for Rayner (as I did for Dorries) and that I dislike sustained and vicious mob attacks on politicians who fuck up.

What I also think is loathsome, though, is the left’s resort to accusations of class-based or sex-based or racially-based motive when their heroes are criticised, but how that magically doesn’t apply when a female or working class or black or brown Tory is attacked.

You didn't say generally in pp, you said every time!

I'm from the so called left and atm i think she has to go, i cannot say if she deliberately tried to avoid tax, unlike some other posters on here, who i hope never get to serve on a jury.....thats for the enquiry and HMRC to decide.

As i said in another thread, all comes down to the type of advice and what she told them but i find it incredulous that a simple search of the trust property wasn't done by who ever did the conveyancing.... if it was and she isn't on the deeds, then what?

On attacks, prior to this, made up crap, remember HMRC found she had obeyed all rules on her ex council house.

Unlike say a Tory chancellor who under paid 5m in tax, i do not recall MN or the msm pursuing him like Rayner is...

Politics is tribal, no Tory is going going to say Badenoch should resign because she lied about her education.... it was all an honest mistake....

'the left’s resort to accusations of class-based or sex-based or racially-based motive when their heroes are criticised, but how that magically doesn’t apply when a female or working class or black or brown Tory is attacked'

Exactly.

I don’t know the exact nature of her son’s disability but I’m surprised she bought a flat rather than a house.

'Unlike say a Tory chancellor who under paid 5m in tax, i do not recall MN or the msm pursuing him like Rayner is...'

Conservative MPs have been pursued on msm and MN far more than Rayner has. I'd say her background has caused people to let her off more lightly than her counterparts. If you say she's crap we're told it's because we don't like her accent or her lack of education rather than her current performance.

Nope, there are many threads on Rayner & have been for at least 2 years....

Every paper and news show leading on it, this did not happen with Zahawi or with Hunt, who avoided 100k in stamp duty after he bought 7, yes Seven flats.... using a loophole he himself put in.....

You and others turned a blind eye, accusing the left of jealousy and against aspiration.

You’re conflating too many things. Was Dorries criticised because of her working class background*? I’d argue no, there were many other things but that wasn’t a factor. At least some of the criticism of Rayner is about her being above her station, going to events she ‘shouldn’t’, the way that she talks etc. And I’m talking her about media criticism, not Mumsnet. There’s a similar snobbery about other women in politics so at least some of it is basic sexism too.

*None of them are working class any more.

Conservatives have been hounded far more. Lettuce Liz Truss, Patel, Dorries, Sajid, Rees Mogg, Johnson. All constantly mocked and analysed.

Rayner has sneered and insulted people. She has set herself up as some paragon of virtue MP wise so of course when she tries to 'flip' tax issues then the spotlight will be on her. She could maybe ring some of her previous targets and ask for tips on how to cope instead of being all teary eyed in an unusually soft Rigby interview.

I’m not defending Tory wrongdoing.

But surely you can see that Labour spent years relentlessly attacking Tories for being venal and self-serving, while positioning themselves as honest and decent people interested only in public service.

So when Labour politicians get exposed for grabbing freebies (and trying to hide them), being slum landlords, tenant evictors, convicted fraudsters, being investigated for corruption, riding around the world on jets at public expense, or failing to pay tax, the derision aimed at these nauseating hypocrites is justified.

Like i said, she should go, the expert advice should have been sought first, also, on a wider point, why on earth wasn't the whole property purchase run past the cabinet office? just the purchase price alone would have drawn criticism.

On hypocrisy, the Tories are doing it now..... Jenrick must be laughing after a judge has said his tweets risked undermining a murder case....

Err all Govt ministers jet round the world at public expense.... & more generally yes, i think the whole of politics needs cleaning up, suits, glasses, footie tickets etc etc all very disappointing.

I think many people on the left can see this. This is why other parties on the left emerging and growing. Many traditional Labour votes like me have had enough.

This!

She should have thought now hang on 2 properties, one in trust but my ds is under 18 so still legally and financially my responsibility I can't 'flip' anything.

If a Conservative had been caught out like this she would be shouting abuse and accusations. She doesn't like it when she's the target does she and fgs will someone please give senior politicians tips on how not to cry in public.

Of course they were scrutinised more, when they were in office. And there were so many egregious things that happened. And plenty of soft soap interviews of those involved (or more commonly poor old Grant Shapps, sent out to defend it all).

Rayner should go because she will be a perpetual distraction, but the idea that she’s any worse than the other lot is absolutely laughable.

'all Govt ministers jet round the world at public expense.... & more generally yes, i think the whole of politics needs cleaning up, suits, glasses, footie tickets etc etc all very disappointing'

Yes think we can all agree on that.

why on earth wasn't the whole property purchase run past the cabinet office? just the purchase price alone would have drawn criticism.

Exactly this. Surely they could have asked for HMRC advice on HMRC matters, given the ‘complexity’ and importance.

It’s not about Labour politicians being any worse than what came before. It’s that they paraded themselves as virtuous and capable while condemning the Tories as inherently corrupt and incompetent. Oops!

It’s Labour’s hypocrisy that’s so breathtaking.

It would be so refreshing to hear a Labour supporter say “well, I believe in a bigger state, greater redistribution, tighter controls on employment and other collectivist principles, but I accept that Labour politicians are every bit as unpleasant and flawed as Tories”. But they never will. Because modern left-wing politics only survives by its members and vocal supporters being deluded about their moral superiority.

Why was there even a need to place her property into a trust for her child? If the property was to be kept as the family home and shared between her and her ex then a simple will could have been set up like most of us put in place. I don't like the fact that her child has been used in this way. She effectively took a portion of the value of the home into this trust and then withdrew it to purchase her holiday home! She and whoever was advising her thought they could be very clever and save some £££s that was due to HMRC.