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.

I don’t feel sorry for her. Being the person that she is (working class made good) she should have made sure she was squeaky clean. I actually feel let down by her.

I feel angry at her and let down.

She knew from the Stockport council house questions and CGT issues that her new house purchase would be looked at closely by the media.

She used a licenced conveyancer (not a solicitor ) for the flat purchase and gave them misleading information. If she had read HMRC guidance it is really clear she needed to pay the higher figure or she could have asked an accountant.

All at a time when she was briefing the chancellor on SDLT so she was not ignorant of the issues.

Don't get me started on the optics of borrowing from the trust to fund the deposit on the Hove flat and what was going on there - suspect there is far more to come out.

Angry as this was all so obviously going to happen with a media investigation and it was almost as if she was blasé to it like the clothing and earlier CGT/council tax issues.

i just expected more of labour/ a woman but just goes to show people are all the same and party and sex does not stop idiocy or dishonesty ( depending on your take on her actions ).

I wouldn't have cared if she stayed tbh, I assume all politicians are corrupt, seems quite minor really.

I don't, she wanted to shaft everyone else for tax but not pay it herself.

Everything seems to be about appearances though, got to be seen to be doing the right thing. Go tot iron those kids uniforms even if you are punching them for funsies.

I don’t think she made a mistake. She thought she’d get away with it as her friend Starmer would support her. They are hypocrites because they would’ve been against people from other parties doing the same thing. I also don’t know any working class people who can afford a flat that’s nearly £1 mil.

I feel mixed about this.

I think her (and Reeves & Starmer) are doing huge damage to the country. It’s terrifying. I didn’t vote for them and I knew they wouldn’t benefit me - but I did think they would be competent and benefit some people- I was wrong on both counts.

I admire her toughness and resolve. I dislike her using phrases like ‘Tory scum’, that’s divisive and not a comment worthy of a person in high office.

I feel sympathy for her personal situation but she was advised to get specialist advice and didn’t. It also appears that when she sold her share of the house to her son’s trust the house was overvalued so she took more out of the trust than she should, and she was a trustee. That is pretty murky.

I think the misogyny she is subject too is awful but I do think she is politically naive - a great campaigner but not a good policy maker.

And saddest of all she’s turned out to be a massive hypocrite.

Yep. Me too.

I felt sorry for her until she tried to blame the law firm. She did NOT take legal advice. I work for a conveyancing firm, we cannot give out tax advice and any paperwork she would have received would have specifically stated that for exactly this reason. We're not tax lawyers, it's on the individual to seek their own specialist advice.
She could have destroyed that law firm's reputation and lost several people their jobs by trying to shift the blame - she lost her 'woman of the people' image for me there and then.

She was very naive or arrogant or both. The council house drama from a few years ago has been dredged up; the valuation of the house in trust; the SDLT issue. It’s all too much to just put down to bias against her as a working class woman imo.

100% feel sorry for her and I’m a centrist - politically homeless right now. Press headlines have been misleading which is all some people read/know about so the underlying complexities which add nuance to the story are completely ignored. Having to listen to the gloating of middle-aged male commuters once the story broke was insufferable.
I understand that she should have sought legal advice and that as a public servant she should be held accountable, but I still feel sorry for her.

Nope. No sympathy whatsoever.

She was a Cabinet Minister, one the highest in the land and she didn't have the good sense and basic acumen to take expert legal advice in relation to a complex tax matter involving three homes and a Trust, notwithstanding the optics of public office. On that basis, she is not fit to be in office.

Let's see what else, oh yes, Secretary of State for HOUSING. Also, the law firm, a tiny, family firm run by a woman, employing women, which she tried to throw under the bus. A tiny firm in Herne Bay, a million miles from Hove, London and Manchester. Why? Because they were cheap? I can't see much evidence of any respect for women there.

The evidence indicates she is not fit for office. One hopes now for a better Deputy Prime Minnister.

I do understand those of you who either disagree with Labour policies, or who are disappointed by what you believe are policies that aren’t “left” enough for those that want more.
But I posted in the feminism chat because I somehow believe this is a feminist issue.
Shit, am I wrong because I am still happy that I finally have a Labour MP.? Maybe? I just liked the idea that out deputy PM, was a woman who didn’t go to Oxford, that just meant something to me.

As a pp said, the little match girl schtick wore thin a long time ago. She’s been living a caricature for her personal and political ends. Her background was certainly disadvantaged but I’m not sure she’s quite the straightforward woman of the people she projects.

Have a look at this article from 10 years ago from, ironically, Brighton:

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14023005.shop-feels-the-force-of-mp-who-complained-about-star-wars-shoes-with-parliamentary-letter-paper/

In what way do you think “you need to get specialist tax advice” was bad advice? If she had followed that advice then she would have been fine.

It is not sufficient just to be a working class woman to be in such high office. Nor is it about being ‘Teflon’, it is about having good judgement, an eye to the optics, and not being a hypocrite, There were also genuine questions about finance and how she could afford such expensive properties on her income, even using her son’s trust fund. About buying a ‘first home’ hundreds of miles from the constituency she was meant to represent. And as for the idea that had she come from privilege she would know about taking advice - she was deputy PM ffs, if she didn’t realise it is important to take advice from experts then she had absolutely no right to be in that role!

Sir Laurie Magnus says that she acted in good faith and with integrity. He’s not a man who would say that if he didn’t believe it.

I hear what you are saying. But the fact she used some of her disabled son’s compensation to fund her property purchase is not form. That’s for his care. She says the Hove property is her main residence, so why is she moving away from her son and her constituents? She is a feisty lady, very vocal and never had a good word to say about the opposition. She was reprimanded for calling them scum. Why did she just not look on Chat GPT for tax advice? They would have explained the situation and told her that she needed to get specialist advice. This was clearly tax avoidance, if not, then she is not bright and shouldn’t be deputy prime minister.

It’s not a feminist issue. She broke the law and tried to get away with it. Power went to her head. It’s disgusting that Starmer tried to protect her too. She knew what she was doing.

I believe she has been victimised by the right wing press in a way that the likes of Boris Johnson never was.
This whole affair shows how misogynistic the press are.
Not making excuses for her, but look at the out and out lies Farage has told. Why don’t the press label him a liar at the start of every news item they write about him? Could it be because he is a white posh male?
Never forget the media is owned by foreign, multi millionaires, it is in their own interest to skate Labour politicians as they feel a rich tax may be prevalent,
Not making excuses for AR but quite frankly when you look at what other politicians and rich business owners do, it’s a storm in a tea cup.

But she didn't. She was advised to take legal advice, didn't and then lied and tried to blame a small family firm for her 'mistake'. And it's not the first dodgy housing deal she's been legally correct but morally wrong in. I'm actually really upset that she's had her nose so far in the trough whilst abusing others for doing the same. I wish I'd never believed in her and hope she clears off and never comes back.

It's clear that regardless of class and background she's a grasping social climber who is happy to take advantage of her position to enrich herself at other people's expense, while preaching to the rest of us from the benches in Westminster.
Society explicitly holds these people to a higher standard than the rest of us, and we have yet again been sadly let down by another MP and Minister who thinks dodgy tax activities and financial hypocrisy is just no problem at all.
I would agree, though, that singling her out would be wrong; however, an equal and cursory investigation of the rest would leave us with a parliament consisting of about 3 good people and 2 others who have lucky lawyers.

I feel more disappointed in her than sad for her. She has done incredibly well considering her start in life but equally having achieved so much she would have had access to excellent advice but has shown a wilful arrogance in how she has dealt with her personal issues.

There is also her hypocrisy to consider and most importantly for me that she appears to have taken advantage of the inflated value of her family home to help fund the purchase of her new apartment. This has possibly been detrimental to her disabled son.

That said I think much of the bad press she gets is due to her background and wouldn’t happen to certain other politicians (Diane Abbott has suffered the same for years)

Maybe she did achieve a lot to get into cabinet, and yes, it was good to have a working class woman in the position of DPM. I can respect her for that.

However, if that woman is a hypocritical liar who has played the system, then she's not worthy of office. I say that about any politician from any party. I don't believe she's "been daft" or "made a mistake". She knew damn well what she was doing, and only came clean when she was found out. I don't feel an ounce of sympathy for her.

I feel sad about it too. But I can’t believe MPs keep doing this. If you’re in a high profile role, you need to be squeaky clean about this kind of stuff. As housing minister, even more so. She made a big error and she will have to pay for it, but I do feel sad about it too.