I feel sad about Angela Rayner

[Neededa]

OK, I am left leaning so maybe I am already biased, BUT, I do feel sad that a woman who overcame early issues, who was “proper” working class, who didn’t speak the kings English, but rather with a proper local dialect, and achieved a high office without a single spoon in her working class mouth, has gone.

i do understand that many people will agree with what has happened. I would have been fuming if the story played out the way it had as a different party, and I understand that Angela had to go, BUT as a woman who believes in holding up other women, particularly those who aren’t born to certain families, or have expectations placed on them from word go, I do feel a bit sad this morning.

There was a working class woman in the House of Commons. A working class woman was the deputy prime minister of this country. It is not even 100 years since working class women could vote. I feel sad.

Exactly my point, she is not very good at hiding her assets so she doesn’t have to pay tax on them, is she? Very easy thing to catch.

Those who are trying to do so are better at not getting caught than ordinary people
who make mistakes.

It may come as a shock to the Left that working-class women can be in power and corrupt.

I think I get where you’re coming from (and that’s as someone who thinks that she created a totally untenable position for herself).

For a while she brought a different angle and background to policitics.

Unfortunately, she then fell into the same hole as so many others of thinking they were different to those the rules applied to, that they were clever enough to play the system to their advantage and could take shortcuts with no consequences.

Trusts owning properties are not normal person activities. Conveyancing on a shoe string using firms without solicitors is for straightforward transactions. Or for people who think it’s grunt work and no expertise required because they know better.

It’s sad that someone who stood on so many of those principles ultimately couldn’t maintain them once their circumstances changed and lost their influence as a result. Some of which was a real gain to uk politics regardless of your individual views.

The theory of a working class woman done good in her position is a great one but AR was not it.

The reporting yesterday afternoon was terrible though. How that got signed off I have no clue. Worked her way up from nothing tripe and then that her teachers said she would amount to nothing. Awkward given the circumstances.

What was said would have been appropriate if she had died in service but not after what happened.

Thats not true. Its not her 'only' mistake.

Trying to do complex tax related matters on the cheap and getting caught out when you've done this, isn't a great statement about your competence when you are a senior government minister who is responsible for a large budget, significant responsibilities and a cost saving agenda...

You spend money wisely, when its needed for the appropriate matter rather than trying to cut corners and ending up in a mess where you probably don't have a big enough income (without new side grifts) to pay your mortgage on top of a rather large fine.

Its got fuck all to do with having friends in high places and not hiring an expensive accountant. Its about a lack of due diligence and responsibility in a public office.

She cheated on her CGT previously and got away with it.

I think that in this case it was a mistake, but when Nadhim Zidawi made the same mistake a few years ago, she absolutely tore into him. Accused him of robbing public services and all sorts. What's sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander, and she should have stepped back as soon as this emerged.

The fact that this was a genuine mistake has doubt cast on it in any case, if it's true that she told both Ashton council and Brighton council that the home in their area was her main home.

She is a disgrace to the working class women who went before her in the Labour Party, women like Barbara Castle, Betty Boothroyd and Mo Mowlem. Her 'I'm working class, me' schtick got her promoted well beyond her abilities.

On that topic of sharpness, sadly her successor is no better.

She had to go. I am sad that she was so stupid though - compared to the price of the house, or compared to the loss of her whole fucking career, the excess stamp duty is such a small amount. Why would you not get advice, and if there is any possible debate about your liability then just pay the higher amount?

She’s lost her whole career for the sake of £24k. Such a stupid stupid waste.

This exactly^

Theresa May was an awful prime minister and her tears were just for herself (as per Rayner). The only crying woman I felt sorry for was Thatcher as she was driven away from Downing Street for the last time - a working class competent woman driven out by a load of posh jealous men who hated her and wanted her job, she was crying at the betrayal from men she thought of as colleagues and friends.

Why are pp insisting she had bad advice? She didn't, the firm working for her have said she was advised to get specialist tax advice and she didn't bother.

She was the first to say "tory scum" when one of theirs was avoiding tax, classy BTW. She has called a few of them out and demanded resignations so she should have made damn sure she was squeaky clean and she didn't.

She has no integrity. She only referred herself to that independent person because she was caught out. Just another corrupt and morally bankrupt politician.

I don’t feel sad for her. Why should I? Regardless of her sex, whether she’s rich or poor, working class or upper class, Rayner has (on several occasions) had her snout in the trough. It seems to be a charming characteristic of many politicians, across all parties. I assume they do it but have zero sympathy for them if they push it too far and veer from legal grifting to illegal grifting. I definitely don’t approve of people being given an easier ride because of their sex, perceived class or monetary status. Rayner is particularly charming as she has tried to pass the buck to the conveyancing firm she used. To add, I think Boris Johnson et al were chased by the press, especially the left-leaning media. Quite right too.

As an aside, like a PP, the children I teach were delighted to have spotted a link between Angela Rayner and Napoleon from Animal Farm. Probably not the legacy she would like. Oh well.

Never met AR but friend's son is civil servant in central London and as a passionate Labour supporter (and northern lad) he said they were all overjoyed and full of bonhomie when they won the last election and the new politicians took over. However the one exception was AR who apparently was aggressive, hostile and generally vile. I wasn't there but its the only thing I've heard directly about her.

Isn’t the solicitor the person who should be blamed?

Thank you, although in fact it doesn't because I was so incensed by all the other stuff that I omitted to mention the many freebies she's accepted from Lord Alli and others, which she no doubt would have described as 'sleaze' if it were a Tory. I can't believe all the bleating and hand-wringing on this thread. She's shown herself to be grasping, self-interested, and wholly lacking in integrity.

No..

He Isn’t in government. He is an MP unless his constituents decide to recall him. This can be done by a petition on a few limited grounds (basically being convicted of a criminal offence or expenses fiddling). Reform Ltd could sack him as leader but won’t because they’ll be nowhere and they know that by the time of the next election very few people will care.

I agree with this. Or a reliable PA to deal with it all for her.

Also, with the family home in Greater Manchester and a grace-and-favour flat in London, why rush into buying the place in Hove at all?

When the purchase was going through in May, it was a busy time ahead of the Spending Review, where she clearly fought hard for housing.

If it was a genuine mistake that she didn’t check and double-check what tax was owed, why be purchasing a home she didn’t really need during a period she didn’t have time to be thorough about it?

So the sadness we feel can’t be separated from the politics? I thought Angela Rayner was truly awful but I see it not through a political lens. Thatcher was the same. I do agree though and have said I don’t think men are treated the same politically.

Indeed. It's unbelievable how low some people's standards are for women.

Whenever I’ve bought a home the stamp duty has been calculated by the solicitor doing my conveyancing based on information I’ve given them. Either she’s pretty stupid or didn’t give it her due diligence. She had to go.

Which solicitor? The one she didn't bother to consult? Because if you mean the conveyancing firm she tried to blame they were clear that they were not, in fact, a firm of qualified solicitors and that they could not advise on tax questions. Her attempt to blame them for her own 'carelessness' is one of the worst things about this situation, in my opinion. She was a government minister. How can she expect us to give her the responsibility for taking decisions about matters that affect the whole country when she apparently can't even take responsibility for her own negligence?

I'm classically conservative but a feminist and also feel sad about it.
I had a lot of respect for what she achieved.

But i dont think its because she was northern/poor/a woman. Ultimately i think any/most politicians would have had to resign if they did what she did. Its pretty egregious stuff.

It was such a stupid series of things to do / decisions to make and I really wish she hadn't.

Keir is an embarrassment - selling himself to lord alli for a few free suits. All he had to do was stand there and look good.

If it wasnt before...Reform is now as good as guaranteed.

All properly declared.

"She’s not totally loaded"

Until she resigned, her salary as Deputy Prime Minister was £161,409 per year (so she was taking home over £8,000 per month - almost £1,900 per week)

I think that out of her £1,900 weekly take home pay she could afford a couple of hundred to pay for proper tax advice.

Even now that she has resigned she will still be on a salary of £93,904 so will have a take home of £5,400 per month or £1,250 per week.

How ever will she keep up the payments on her new flat when she's now scraping by on £1,250 per week?

BTW, please don't take this as me saying anything about government salaries. I really do believe that salaries for MPs should be higher, but to claim that Rayner couldn't afford to pay for some decent tax advice frankly does not stand up.