Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the “hugely talented” Angela Rayner will return to his Cabinet.
Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader in September after an independent ethics probe found she had breached the ministerial code by underpaying stamp duty on a seaside flat.
Starmer said in an interview with The Observer that he missed Rayner and said misogyny had played a part in the level of criticism she and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have received in recent months.
After describing Rayner as “the best social mobility story this country has ever seen,” Starmer was asked if he missed his former deputy and said: “Yes, of course I do. I was really sad that we lost her.
“As I said to her at the time, she’s going to be a major voice in the Labour movement.”
Pressed as to whether she will be back in the Cabinet, he added: “Yes. She’s hugely talented.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch argued during Prime Minister’s Questions last month that any return for Rayner should be on the condition that “she must pay back the £40,000 of property taxes she avoided”.
Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary after an independent ethics advisor found she broke the ministerial code in September, ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen and Political Editor Robert Peston reported
Earlier this week, a source close to the former deputy prime minister said she will “not be played like a pawn” after reports of a deal for her and Health Secretary Wes Streeting to run for the Labour leadership.
The source said “there is no vacancy and there is no pact”, after The Daily Telegraph reported that allies of Mr Streeting were pressing Ms Rayner to sign up to a “joint ticket” for the top job.
Starmer insisted that he had no intention of stepping aside before the next election.
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He said: “When I took over the Labour party, everyone said to me, ‘you’re not going to be able to change the party’. We ignored that and carried on.
“Then they said to me, ‘you’re not going to be able to win an election’. We got a landslide Labour victory.
“Now, 17 months into a five-year Labour term, they say ‘you’re not able to change the country’.
“Every time we’ve been in this position, we’ve defied them. And that’s what I intend to do.”
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