BIRMINGHAM: In a devastating blow to her boss, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned on Friday after expressing her sincere contrition for her error of underpaying property tax on a new residence.
Starmer said he was “very sad to be losing you from the government” and described her as a “trusted colleague and a true friend,” but there was nothing he could do to defend his deputy after Britain’s independent advisor found that she had violated the ministerial code by not paying the correct tax.
When she was first accused of evading 40,000, the British leader pledged her his entire support. Rayner, 45, is the eighth and most senior minister to leave Starmer’s cabinet, and the most destructive to yet.
