Labour was in meltdown on Friday after Angela Rayner’s resignation triggered an emergency reshuffle.
The beleaguered Deputy Prime Minister finally had to quit after a sleaze inquiry found she had failed to pay up to £40,000 tax owed on a luxury seaside apartment.
Her departure forced Sir Keir Starmer to carry out a major reshuffle of his top team just days after declaring that ‘Phase two’ of his government was under way following a dismal first year in office.
The shake-up sees Yvette Cooper moved from the Home Office after failing to tackle the small-boats crisis. She is replaced with tough-talking former justice secretary Shabana Mahmood.
But, with the PM’s own poll ratings at a record low, he appeared to be too weak to sack any senior figures outright for fear of creating dangerous enemies on Labour’s backbenches.
