Angela Rayner has been hailed as a “working-class hero” at Labour’s conference – just weeks after quitting in a tax row. Steve Reed told the gathering in Liverpool that he took on his “dream job” as Housing Secretary “not under the circumstances” he would have wanted.
He received a standing ovation and applause for his tribute to his predecessor Ms Rayner, who was also deputy prime minister. The Housing Secretary said: “When I picked up the phone to the Prime Minister three weeks ago, he offered me my dream job, but not under the circumstances I would have wanted.
“So can I begin by thanking my good friend Angela Rayner for all she has done for our party and our Government over so many years – for workers’ rights, for local government, for building council homes.
“Angela, you are a true working-class hero.”
Ms Rayner resigned from the Government earlier this month for breaching the ministerial code.
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP quit as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy leader of the Labour Party following an official probe into her admission she did not pay enough stamp duty on a seaside home she bought earlier this year.
Sir Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser said she failed to “heed the caution” contained within legal advice she received when purchasing the £800,000 property in Hove.
The outgoing deputy prime minister admitted she had underpaid stamp duty on the flat, and referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent ethics adviser.
