Angela Rayner not returning her 17K severance payment

[MissionCreep]

After a year out of gov Angela Rayner is back obviously and today saying she won’t return the 17K severance payment because she ‘will deliver again’ in government. Just seems so grubby.

Same for Liz Truss taking the PM pension after crashing the economy. Just so tone deaf. I’m sure there are loads of other examples and I don’t think they’re OK either.

I don’t want this Burnham government to appear to be one that just looks out for itself. That was terrible for us in the Boris Johnson era. We should obviously not be harbouring any corruption from those in office, but also I want politicians to do the right thing in office even where the law doesn’t absolutely force them to.

Council housing is the thing she’s really passionate about, she’ll do better there than anyone else would.

Why not?

Poor Angela Rayner. It's just as well she is a fighter. She receives as much hate as the equally victimised and targeted, Diane Abbott. She owes nobody. She has done nothing wrong. She has been hounded by the media and DailyFail readers. Leave her alone to do a great job for this country, which she will do.

I dont care about this and dont understand why people do. I dont vote Labour or particularly like her, but she hasnt done anything wrong regarding the payment. She was entitled to it.

I would have supported it being donated to charity, but there is no obligation to return it, and it has been properly declared.

She criticised others for the same thing.
she’s a hypocrite

Dept for housing isn’t about stamp duty 😂 it’s about social housing and house building both of which she’s passionate about

Personally I couldn't care less that she has no intention of paying it back - she was entitled to it. However, criticising others for doing the same makes her look very foolish indeed - she was positively squirming when asked about it on the BBC this morning.

Unfortunately she has exposed herself as a self-serving hypocrite. But then, they all are to some degree.

Fascinating isn’t it.
she’s now a minister when her tax liability was “really complex” and she got it wrong. If anyone else found their tax bill really complex I think they’d be pursued by HMRC and their honesty and integrity questioned.

She is a massive hypocrite ‘one rule for them and the same for me’. Pig in a trough

@CurlewKate, @Backedoffhackedoff and @BIossomtoes She is an odd choice for housing minister because most of the controversy surrounding Angela Rayner is about housing: questionable residency declaration, multiple home ownership, profiting from right to buy scheme and not paying stamp duty. None of which sounds great from someone who calls herself a socialist. You would have thought the labour party wouldn't want the public to be reminded of this.

Put the word champagne in front of socialist..

Does she call herself a socialist?

Would all the posters saying there's nothing to see here defend a Tory that did this?

Asked how she defined her own politics, Rayner said: “I am definitely a socialist and I’m proud to be one." (Quoted from an article in the Guardian)

It isn't surprising. Most of the Labour party describe themselves as socialists of some sort. That is presumably why they are in the Labour party.

It may surprise you but yes. It’s a payment to which the recipient is entitled and I have no problem in anyone taking an employment benefit to which they’re legally entitled. Anyone who doesn’t like it should be objecting to the rules that make it possible, not the person who’s perfectly legally availing themselves of the benefit they allow.

Plenty of Tories did exactly the same. Brandon Lewis pocketed two severage packages in under 4 months. Angela Raynor and the convicted fraudster Louise Haigh will probably both pocket another when their positions become untenable again - its just a matter of time.

It’s highly unlikely. Rayner’s unlikely to buy another house and would be hyper vigilant if she did. Haigh has already paid a ridiculously high price for an offence that should have never been anywhere near a court.

They are all hypocrites and grubby fund munchers. She won’t pay it back because no one else has. They all criticise each other and then do the same. Sadly this is UK politics

I doubt their positions will become untenable for exactly the same reasons they did under Starmer - Burnham clearly has a higher sleaze tolerance - but I'm wold be put on a wager that they will become untenable for some as yet unknown reasons in the not too distant future.

Does the hypocricy not bother you? I can't get past Rayner doing the very thing she criticised others for doing.

Is your crystal ball usually accurate?

Yes, as I said earlier, they have now changed the rules. The fact that I can see problematic, however, is that the PM adjudicates on whether the breach of the ministerial code is serious. So, with Rayner, it seems certain that it wouldn't be. But they do set themselves up for criticism in the future?

Ah yes - the The Tories Are Worse defence.
For me, it's the fact she apparently sees no issue with slagging others off for doing this and then doing exactly the same herself

The fact the Tories did it is irrelevant - as would any othe politician doing it be as long as they didn't criticise others for doing so.

she was positively squirming when asked about it
Yes, I thought she was like a rabbit caught in the headlights and it got my attention and prompted me to find out about it. She was not comfortable.

'He has no mandate, no answers …
I am more uncomfortable with her saying this.