Rayn check
SIR Keir Starmer yesterday refused five times to say he’d fire Angela Rayner if she’s found to have breached the ministerial code by dodging £40,000 of stamp duty.
To many, this will smack of hypocrisy.
AFPPM Sir Keir Starmer refused five times to say he’d fire Angela Rayner[/caption]
In opposition, Sir Keir and his deputy were lightning-quick to demand Tory resignations. Indeed, they were incandescent when Boris Johnson chose to stand by Priti Patel after a code breach.
What’s so different now?
In truth, it gets ever harder to see how Rayner can survive.
We have now learned she knew on Monday that it was likely she had underpaid the taxman when purchasing an £800,000 seaside flat in Hove.
Yet her Cabinet colleagues were still sent out to defend her, smearing journalists asking legitimate questions about her property affairs.
Even yesterday, the ministerial wagons were still being circled around her.
Amazingly, Leader of the House Lucy Powell claimed Rayner was being attacked only because she was doing a “bloody good job”.
Can the Labour high command not see how bad it looks to have a housing minister who doesn’t know the rules on housing tax, and didn’t bother to get proper advice from someone who did?
The verdict of an inquiry by ethics chief Laurie Magnus could come as soon as today.
Whatever he decides, Rayner is now stripped of all credibility.
The Deputy PM is also a millstone around the neck of her boss, at a time when he should be focused only on delivering for fed-up voters.
Jabs harmy
FAT jabs are crucial to tackling the nation’s obesity crisis.
Yet the rollout of Mounjaro is being needlessly bungled by the NHS.
Patients in need are once again being subjected to a postcode lottery, with just 18 out of England’s 42 local health boards having a prescription regime up and running.
And even those areas with a proper system can’t actually afford to prescribe enough to meet demand.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s claim that weight loss injections should be available based on need, not wealth, is being sorely undermined.
Clegg on chin
THE public mood on illegal migration has shifted so much that even arch-Europhile Nick Clegg is now demanding reform of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The former Lib Dem leader has fiercely defended the Human Rights Act and spent years blocking any moves designed to toughen up Britain’s borders.
His sudden conversion — alongside those of Labour grandees David Blunkett and Jack Straw — is further proof that drastic action over European rights laws is needed.
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