Sir Keir Starmer has completed a major reshuffle of his cabinet after Angela Rayner resigned for breaching the ministerial code when she did not pay enough stamp duty on her new seaside home.
David Lammy will replace Ms Rayner as the Deputy Prime Minister. He also becomes the Justice Secretary, moving from his role as Britain’s top diplomat, the Foreign Secretary.
Steve Reed has taken over Ms Rayner’s Housing Secretary brief, leaving behind his role as environment secretary.
Shabana Mahmood, formerly the justice secretary, is the new Home Secretary.
Meanwhile, Yvette Cooper has moved from her role overseeing the Home Office to take over Mr Lammy’s former job as Foreign Secretary.
Pat McFadden, a senior minister within the Cabinet Office, will run a new “super ministry” comprised of the Department for Work and Pensions and the skills remit of the Department for Education, according to sources.
Lucy Powell and Ian Murray have been sacked as leader of the House of Commons and Scotland secretary respectively.
Ms Rayner resigned after Sir Keir’s ethics adviser said she had failed to “heed the caution” contained within legal advice she received when buying an £800,000 property in Hove.
She admitted she had underpaid stamp duty on the flat, and referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent ethics adviser.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday, Ms Rayner said: “I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements. I take full responsibility for this error.
“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... I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.
“Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign.”
The ethics watchdog said that Ms Rayner’s failure to settle her full stamp duty liability, along with the fact that this was only established following media scrutiny, led him to consider the ministerial code had been breached.
Sir Laurie said xthat while Ms Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service”, she could not be considered to have met the “highest possible standards of proper conduct” for a minister.
In his response, Sir Keir said Ms Rayner would “remain a major figure in our party” and “continue to fight for the causes you care so passionately about”.
The shake-up of the top team sees Sir Keir attempt to reclaim the narrative following Ms Rayner’s resignation, after a mini-reshuffle earlier this week – eclipsed by the tax row – was dubbed “phase 2” of the Government.
Mr Lammy was viewed favourably for his work as foreign secretary, as part of the successful charm offensive which won over the Trump administration.
New Home Secretary Ms Mahmood is widely predicted by Westminster watchers to offer a new hardline stance on migration, having only on Thursday suggested she is open to reforming how a European human rights treaty impacts British law.
