Healey said Rayner ‘was not a victim’ in the midst of dissatisfaction

Sunday 07 September 2025 1:51
| Updated:

Sunday 07 September 2025 13:52

Share

• 
  Share on Facebook
• 
  Share on Twitter
• 
  Share on LinkedIn
• 
  Share on WhatsApp
• 
  Share in the email

Angela Rayner is “not a victim” and “any government is stronger” with him, a cabinet minister said after the reshuffle after his resignation saw tension in childbirth.

Defense Minister John Healey defended “clear action, fast, fast, fair” from Sir Keir Starmer after the recognition of his former representative that he was mistakenly paid on the sea flat that he bought earlier this year.

MS Rayner stopped as Secretary of Housing, Deputy Leader and Deputy Prime Minister after the Prime Minister’s Ethics Supervisor found that he had violated the minister’s code, triggered an initial government reshuffle.

Mr. Healey said the handsome cabinet means “good team” now exists to provide policies after the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham expressed concern about the “balance” in Sir Keir’s government.

He rejected the advice made by Burnham that the leadership needed to change his treatment of supporters by showing them more “respect” after a fight over the government’s welfare reform earlier this year.

“I denied that. Our focus is on the public who chose us, the delivery we was assigned to change their lives. This is a big part of the work we all do,” he told The BBC’s Sunday with the Laura Kuensssberg program.

“Our government will miss Angela Rayner. She is not a victim. She is under a lot of pressure and Andy Burnham’s rights about that.

“But he became an inspiration for many people, especially working class women.”

He added: “Any government is stronger with Angela Rayner but we have a new new team on the spot and that is our job.”

The Prime Minister tried to withdraw the line under the destructive fall in the violation of his former deputy against the minister’s code after he claimed to have mistakenly paying additional fees to the property at Hove in May.

Investigations by Independent Ethics Advisers found that he had acted with a “good faith” but that “the responsibility of the taxpayer to report their tax returns and complete their obligations in the event of themselves.”

Sir Keir made a massive overhaul of his cabinet and his junior minister after MS Rayner’s departure, telling the new team to “take equipment” with the delivery after the scandal.

But he now faces the prospect of a party conference that is overshadowed by the maneuver for the representative of the leadership role emptied by MS Rayner, who is popular among the grassroots and is seen as a bridge between No. 10 and a wider party.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) whose labor government is expected to meet on Monday to decide how to move forward with an internal contest to replace it.

On Sunday, Healey rejected the idea that the appointment of former Foreign Minister David Lammy as Deputy Prime Minister means that he is a candidate for the choice of prime minister for the role.

“They are two separate jobs, two very important jobs. Deputy Labor Party Leaders are important jobs and important voices for members of the Labor Party,” he told Sky News on Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips.

Mr Burnham supported Louise Haigh, who resigned as Secretary of Transportation last year after that appeared he had previously been convicted of fraud violations, or former commons leader Lucy Powell.

MS Powell was fired as part of the Sir Keir Cabinet shake-up this week while MS Haighi left the government in November after appearing, he admitted that he incorrectly told the police that the cellphone phone was stolen in 2013.

Asked what kind of candidate he would support for the deputy leadership of the place, Mr. Burnham said: “Obviously, I can be biased, but someone from these sections I think will be great.

“Louise Haigh, maybe Lucy Powell, who in my opinion is doing a brilliant job in the government.”

He said a voice from northern England would help fight what he called “London centricity” from existing leadership.

Meanwhile Islington South and Members of the Finsbury Parliament Dame Emily told the BBC: “I think about it. This is really a question about what I can bring there.

“I hear what is said about the deputy leader must come from Manchester, and it is clear that the Mayor of Manchester will say that. I’m sure people will say they must come from Wales or from Scotland or – – the important thing is what you carry.

“Do you have strength? Do you have experience? Can you really make a difference? And I have to think about it.”

Some labor backbenchers are very critical of changes in overhaul and express concerns about what they mean for the direction of the party’s trip.

“Angela made the appearance of an unbalanced cabinet a little more balanced,” said a PA news agency.

“But that is almost entirely deep skin and cosmetics. In literally every big problem he has tucked behind them. Some leaky memos are not left -wing policy agendas.

“Now even the resemblance of the illusion is lost. Maybe for the party as a whole it gets better in the long run.”

They added that “Starmer just signed his own death letter” and “must be lost before (Christmas).”

Liverpool labor parliament member Riverside Kim Johnson said the reshuffle looked like “Dek seats that move in Titanic” and “Creating the London elite”.

“The Labor Party is a broad church, this is certainly not represented by this reshuffle,” he said.

It is unclear whether MS Rayner will take severance pay after his resignation, but Jones said it would be “personal decision for him, as opposed to the prime minister”.

Meanwhile, MS Rayner faces opposition pressure to refuse severance pay payment that is entitled to the ministers when they leave the cabinet.

The new labor regulations that come into force in October will allow the Prime Minister to refuse the golden lives to every government member found to have committed a “serious violation” of the minister’s code.

But the ministers said that because the departure of MS Rayner came before the entry change, it was a decision for him whether he took payment or not, which could be as much as £ 16,876 under the existing rules.

By Nina Lloyd and Jordan Reynolds, Pa