Sir Kier Starmer has given his backing to Angela Rayner over the the controversy over her property arrangements
Over the past few days the Greater Manchester MP has been embroiled in speculation around three properties she owns
One is the home she owned with her ex-husband in Ashton-under-Lyne. The second is the grace-and-favour flat in Admiralty House, London, which she enjoys access to because of her job. The third is a newly purchased £800,000 flat in Hove.
She has been accused of avoiding stamp duty tax on the third property by the right wing press
In an interview with the BBC this afternoon he said that she is a ‘great story of success’
‘Angela is Deputy PM of this country. That’s an incredible achievement. One of the things that drives me in politics is aspiration, opportunity.
“And Angela came from a very humble background, battled all sorts of challenges along the way, and there she is proudly — and I’m proud of her — as our deputy prime minister. Angela has had people briefing against her and talking her down over and over again. It’s a mistake, by the way.”
However in what commentators are calling a Freudian slip he referred to Angela Rayner as an “incredible Prime Minister” before being corrected.
Meanwhile it has emerged that a Court order is ‘preventing Angela Rayner from clarifying the housing row’
No 10 said the deputy prime minister was unable to speak further on the topic
