Angela Rayner was Britain's deputy prime minister under Keir Starmer until September 5th 2025, when she resigned after revelations that she had underpaid £40,000 in stamp duty on a second home. The resignation triggered a hefty cabinet reshuffle, with half the cabinet changing jobs.
Ms Rayner served as housing secretary until her resignation. She was replaced by Steve Reed earlier in September 2025, who called the lack of progress on housebuilding "unacceptable". Under the government's target of 1.5m new homes in five years, year one produced only 187,000.
As housing secretary, Ms Rayner took over the planning decision for China's proposed new embassy in London—intended to be the largest foreign embassy in the city, on the Royal Mint Court site—in October 2024, apparently at the behest of China.
Ms Rayner left school with no qualifications and crawled from society's scrapheap to the brink of Downing Street via her wits. She grew up on a council estate. Her father, Sir Keir's, was a toolmaker—both she and the prime minister have made much of their working-class credentials. She is a former deputy leader of the Labour Party.
Ms Rayner is considered a leading contender to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader. She remains under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs over her tax affairs—the reason she left government.
One of the worst of my many faults is that I'm too critical of myself.