UK: Starmer reshuffles government after Deputy Prime Minister resigns

In key positions, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has been appointed Foreign Secretary, succeeding David Lammy, who moves to Justice and becomes Deputy Prime Minister, replacing Angela Rayner.

The highly sensitive migration issue falls to Shabana Mahmood, who is leaving the Ministry of Justice for the Home Office to replace Yvette Cooper.

The changes, which are largely a game of musical chairs, come more than a year after the struggling Labour Party came to power, having been overtaken in the polls by Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party.

The resignation of Angela Rayner, his Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing, a figure of the left wing of Labour and until now the party's number two, a real blow for Keir Starmer, has forced him to step up the pace.

She was forced to leave the government and her Labour duties after admitting she had underpaid tax when she bought her home.

In addition to three departures, twelve ministers have changed positions. Among them, Pat McFadden, the minister responsible for overseeing government action, has taken on the Labour portfolio, and Peter Kyle has become Minister of Trade. These two key positions are taking place at a time when the government is struggling to revive economic activity.

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who has been under fire for months, has saved her life.

"Unsatisfactory" results

This "in-depth" reorganization is "a clear sign that the Prime Minister recognizes that the Labour government's performance in its first year has been unsatisfactory," commented Patrick Diamond, a former Downing Street adviser, interviewed by AFP.

But "the repercussions of Angela Rayner's resignation, including the election of a new Labour deputy leader, could well create further turbulence," he warned.

Angela Rayner, 45, had reported herself to the government's ethics adviser, who concluded on Friday that she had "breached the code" of ministerial conduct.

In her resignation letter to Keir Starmer, she said she "deeply regrets (her own) decision not to seek additional specialist tax advice" and takes "full responsibility for this error."

"Given the findings and the impact on my family, I have decided to resign," she continued, after several days of controversy and intense media coverage.

In his letter accepting her resignation, a "deeply saddened" Keir Starmer assured Angela Rayner that she would remain "a major figure" in Labour.

Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed on X that Angela Rayner had "finally gone," accusing the prime minister of "weakness" for not acting immediately after the first revelations.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, meanwhile, criticized his party's annual conference in Birmingham as saying the government "is as bad as, or worse than, the one that came before it, despite all its promises to pursue new and different policies."

"Good faith"

Angela Rayner revealed on Wednesday that she had paid less tax than she should have after buying a home in Hove, a seaside resort in southern England, in May.

"I thought I did everything right," she said in an interview with Sky News on Wednesday. "I'm devastated because I've always followed the rules," she added.

Laurie Magnus, the government's ethics adviser, said she had acted "in good faith" but should be held accountable, like any taxpayer, for her tax returns.

Often targeted by conservative media, Angela Rayner left school without a qualification and, at 16, became a single mother. She discovered trade unionism and then politics after working in social work and rose through the ranks within the Labour Party.

The government is suffering from strong unpopularity and is facing internal divisions in a difficult budgetary context.

In mid-July, he faced a revolt from a third of Labour MPs opposing his welfare reform and was forced to backtrack to avoid a humiliating defeat in Parliament.