David Lammy, left, and Yvette Cooper
British prime minister Keir Starmer on Friday appointed foreign secretary David Lammy as deputy prime ninister in a major cabinet reshuffle following the resignation of Angela Rayner over a tax underpayment controversy.Lammy, 53, will also take on the role of justice secretary. As part of the reshuffle, home secretary Yvette Cooper will move to the foreign, commonwealth and development office (FCDO), while Shabana Mahmood has been promoted to the home office from the ministry of justice.Rayner, 45, a senior Labour Party figure and MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, resigned after admitting she underpaid tax on a new home she recently purchased on England’s south coast. She had also been serving as housing secretary.Her resignation followed a fast-tracked independent ethics inquiry, which concluded that she breached the ministerial code of conduct by failing to seek specialist tax advice to ensure the correct stamp duty was paid.Starmer expressed his regret at losing his deputy Laurie Magnus, independent adviser on ministerial standards, informed him that Rayner could not be considered to have met the “highest possible standards of proper conduct,” and was therefore in breach of the code. “You were right to refer yourself to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Adviser and right to act on his conclusions,” Starmer wrote in a rare hand-written letter to Rayner,as quoted by PTI. “On a personal note, I am very sad to be losing you from the Government. You have been a trusted colleague and a true friend for many years. I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievements in politics,” he added, noting she will remain a “major figure” in the Labour Party.Rayner said she deeply regretted not seeking specialist tax advice. “I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount. I must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family,” she wrote in her resignation letter.The resignation also follows a complex family arrangement. Rayner revealed earlier this week that she has an arrangement with her ex-husband concerning the care of their disabled son, involving another property that remains a family home.Under England’s stamp duty rules, anyone purchasing a second property must pay an additional surcharge. Rayner had initially classified her new seaside flat in Hove as a primary residence, subject only to the basic stamp duty rate. Because of the additional family home held in trust for her son, she owed an estimated 40,000 pounds more to the tax authorities than initially calculated.
