Keir Starmer's Plans For 'Phase Two' Of His Government Left In Tatters By Rayner Scandal

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner attend the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)Few posts on X have surely aged as badly as Keir Starmer’s from four days ago.In a video posted on his own account to coincide with a shake-up of Downing Street personnel, the prime minister was positively ebullient about what lay ahead for his government.“Summer’s definitely over and this morning we’ve got all of the No.10 staff together, and talked through what phase two of the government if going to look like and feel like,” Starmer said.The PM was then shown telling his troops: “So we go into phase two, September 1 2025, in good spirits, confident and with conviction about what we’re doing.”Phase two of my government starts today. pic.twitter.com/Ll2Wd6PnOa— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 1, 2025But just four days later, the prime minister’s plans have been detonated by the resignation of his deputy, Angela Rayner, after she was found to have broken the ministerial code by failing to pay enough stamp duty on her new flat.As one Labour insider told HuffPost UK: “Phase three of the government better be a cracker.”Confirming the old adage about never letting a good crisis go to waste, the PM is now carrying out a cabinet reshuffle as he desperately tries to regain the political initiative which Monday’s shake-up was meant to provide.Starmer is expected to make major changes to both his top team and the government’s junior ranks, in a clear admission that his administration has been a huge let-down since entering office in July last year.Commons leader Lucy Powell has been sacked, as has Scottish secretary Ian Murray, while there are growing rumours that Yvette Cooper’s time as home secretary may be coming to an end.Rayner’s departure means there is a vacancy at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, while Starmer is also expected to appoint a new deputy PM.It is also in the cabinet’s gift to appoint an interim deputy Labour leader, although party members will be given the chance to elect a permanent replacement for Rayner.That tees up a potential civil war, as Labour’s left and right wings battle for the party’s soul.Prominent left-winger Richard Burgon said: “Labour members deserve a democratic Labour Party that treats them with respect. So there must now be a proper election for deputy leader, fully in line with the party’s rulebook — and not a leadership stitch-up.”The cabinet reshuffle may get Starmer through the next 24 hours, but the political waters remain very choppy for the prime minister.Related...Angela Rayner Quits Cabinet After Probe Into Stamp Duty RowStarmer Accused Of Being 'Staggeringly Unprepared For Government' After No.10 Shake-UpKeir Starmer's No.10 Shake-Up Is An Admission His Government Is In Crisis

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