Britain's Labour government is enduring a disastrous start to its second year in power, after the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner sparked a major cabinet reshuffle.
Ms Rayner, widely viewed as a successor to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, quit on Friday, after she admitted underpaying property tax on a new home.
Scrutiny of her had been intensifying in the British media, with multiple calls for her resignation from opposition parties.
Sir Keir, who won a landslide victory just over a year ago, was then forced to embark on a wider reshuffle of his top team.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy — a key Starmer ally — replaced Ms Rayner as deputy prime minister and was given a second role as justice secretary.
Yvette Cooper, previously home secretary, was made foreign secretary while another minister, Shabana Mahmood, was named home secretary. Ms Mahmood had previously been justice secretary.
But the most high-profile movement was Ms Rayner, 45.
She was the eighth, and the most senior, ministerial exit, and the most damaging yet after Sir offered her his full support when she was first accused of deliberately trying to avoid paying the correct tax rate.
"I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice … I take full responsibility for this error," Ms Rayner said in her letter to Sir Keir.
The prime minister said in response that he was very sad that her time in government had ended in this way but she had reached the right decision.
With Labour trailing Britain's populist Reform UK in the polls, Sir Keir faces yet more challenges in trying to repair his authority and his party's image, which has previously been hit by accusations of hypocrisy by critics over accepting expensive items including clothing and concert tickets from donors.
Losing his deputy is particularly damaging for Sir Keir, especially because Ms Rayner, who rose from a working-class teenage mother to one of Britain's highest political positions, had been able to mediate between Labour's left and centrist wings to keep the party united, and had a wider appeal than the prime minister.
Sometimes tipped as a potential successor to Sir Keir, Ms Rayner had been forced to refer herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards on Wednesday after admitting that she had made a mistake over the tax payment.
In an interview in which she appeared close to tears, Ms Rayner described setting up a trust for one of her sons, who has life-long disabilities as a result of an injury.
It was to that trust that she sold her share of her family home in northern England to pay for an apartment in the southern English seaside resort of Hove, believing she would not have to pay the higher rate of tax charged when buying a second home.
After taking further legal advice, she then said she had made a mistake and was taking steps to pay the additional tax.
Another blow for British government
Losing eight cabinet and junior ministers, five of whom resigned over wrongdoing, means Sir Keir has suffered the most ministerial resignations, outside government reshuffles, of any prime minister at the beginning of their tenure since at least 1979.
Sir Keir has suffered even more departures than Boris Johnson, the next highest, whose administration was later embroiled in allegations of COVID-19 lockdown-breaking parties.
It leaves Sir Keir wounded as he prepares for a difficult end to the year, when his government must craft a budget that analysts and markets expect to contain further tax rises and try to contain the growing threat from Nigel Farage's Reform.
Returning from a summer break on Monday, Sir Keir had hoped that a reshuffle in his Downing Street team would show he was ready to tackle the second half of the year with renewed vigour, bolstering his economic advice.
But that was quickly eclipsed by the allegations against Ms Rayner and by Mr Farage's accusation that Sir Keir was stifling free speech.
Reuters