Starmer Shakes Up Top Team After Deputy Rayner Quits
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer overhauled his ministerial team Friday in a bid to reset his embattled government after Deputy Premier Angela Rayner resigned for underpaying a property tax.
Rayner, a figurehead among Labour’s left-wing base, quit after an investigation found she had breached the ministerial code over the purchase of a flat in southern England.
Her departure prompted Starmer to carry out the first major cabinet reshuffle of his stuttering 14-month-old premiership, during which the hard-right Reform UK party has overtaken Labour in popularity.
Starmer replaced Rayner as deputy with Foreign Minister David Lammy, whose post as Britain’s top diplomat will now be taken by Interior Minister Yvette Cooper, Downing Street announced.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood from Labour’s right wing will succeed Cooper at the Home Office, while Lammy will also take on the justice brief, Number 10 added.
The shake-up comes after Rayner’s resignation dealt the latest blow to Starmer’s flagging government, which has lurched from one storm to another since he became prime minister in July last year, ending 14 consecutive years of Conservative rule.
It has been forced to U-turn on welfare reforms and fuel benefits for the elderly and is struggling to achieve its overarching aim of firing up Britain’s economy, with a painful budget looming on the horizon.
