British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday shook up his Cabinet after his top deputy stepped down over a tax error on a home purchase, leaving a big hole in the center-left Labour government.
Starmer carried out a major reshuffle, a forced government reboot after a rocky 14 months in office that have seen his popularity plunge. British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy replaced Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister and also took the justice portfolio. Yvette Cooper moved from the British Home Office to become foreign secretary, while British Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood became home secretary.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was kept in post, meaning that the three major offices of state below the British prime minister would be occupied by women for the first time in history.
Photo: AFP
The changes came after Rayner handed in her resignation to Starmer, because an independent inquiry concluded that she had not met the ethical standards required of government ministers over her purchase of an apartment in Hove. The report concluded that she should have sought more specific advice, even though she acted in good faith.
“I take full responsibility for this error,” Rayner said in her resignation letter to Starmer. “I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.”
Starmer in a handwritten letter expressed regret, but said Rayner had made the right decision.
“I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievements in politics,” Starmer wrote.
The letter signed off “with very best wishes and with real sadness.”
Rayner is a hugely popular member of the Labour Party and was widely tipped to be a potential successor to Starmer. In addition to resigning as deputy prime minister and housing secretary, Rayner quit as deputy leader of the party, meaning that members have to select someone new.
Steve Reed was moved from rural affairs to the housing role.
The changes also saw an enhanced role for Darren Jones, the recently appointed chief secretary to the prime minister — charged with getting a grip on government communications — and a return to the British government as the secretary for Scotland for Douglas Alexander, a veteran of the government of former British prime minister Tony Blair two decades ago.
Starmer would be hoping that the bold changes allow him to seize back the political agenda following days of speculation surrounding Rayner’s future and months of turmoil for his administration.
His government has seen its support fall sharply since its landslide victory in last year’s election, following a string of missteps over welfare reform and mounting public concern about immigration.
In the UK, levies are charged on property purchases, with higher charges due on more expensive homes and secondary residences. Reports have suggested that Rayner saved ￡40,000 (US$53,974) by not paying the appropriate levy, known as a stamp duty, on her ￡800,000 purchase.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
CHINESE INCURSIONS, SORTIES: President William Lai thanked military officers for shouldering the responsibility of defending the survival and development of Taiwan President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that aggression would inevitably fail, pointing — on the day before a mass military parade in Beijing — to the lessons from World War II and key victories Taiwan claims against Chinese forces in 1958. Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the nation as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims that Taipei rejects. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are to oversee a military parade in Beijing today to mark the
RSS