Starmer shakes up top team after deputy Rayner quits
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer overhauled his ministerial team yesterday in a bid to reset his embattled government after deputy premier Angela Rayner resigned over underpaying a property tax.
Rayner, a figurehead among Labour’s left-wing base, quit after an investigation found that 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 with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, whose post as Britain’s top diplomat will be taken by interior minister Yvette Cooper, the BBC reported.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will succeed Cooper at the Home Office, while Lammy will also take on the justice brief, the broadcaster 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.
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