A former Tory minister has joined high profile figures to come out in defence of deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner as police investigating claims about her former living arrangements say they are considering multiple allegations.
Nick Boles, who was an MP for nine years, slammed the scrutiny over the sale of Ms Rayner’s former council home and whether she avoided paying the right tax or had correctly registered at the right address.
“The Conservative attack on Angela Rayner is one of the most grotesque spectacles of hypocrisy I have ever witnessed,” he said while former Conservative MP Matthew Parris condemned what he called “the hounding” of the Labour MP, dubbing it “outrageous: brutal, snobbish and completely out of proportion to any mistake she may (or may not) have made”.
Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal also said that “based on whats in the public domain”, the crown prosecutor would take no action against Ms Rayner.
Their comments come as Greater Manchester police chief Stephen Watson suggested there were multiple allegations which may extend beyond her housing arrangements.
The GMP had previously announced they were investigating the Labour deputy leader over the sale of her council house in Stockport and whether she broke electoral law by giving false information of her address during the 2010s.
During an appearance on BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Watson said: “All I would say in line with what we’ve put out publicly is there are a number of assertions knocking about, I don’t need to tell people that.
“We, on an initial assessment, made a determination that it was unlikely we would pursue an investigation. On the provision of further investigation or further information, we have reassessed that decision and we have announced we will launch a formal investigation.”
He added: “That is a neutral act, it does not imply that information gives us any hard or fast evidence in which to base anything at this stage. It is simply that we have an allegation, these allegations are all over the news, we are going to get to the bottom of what has happened.”
It comes as The Times reports that police are investigating “tax matters and other issues” in connection with her housing affairs. A source told the newspaper: “It’s very well resourced, it’s not a single issue. There is a volume of material and a clear public interest to fully investigate.”
The Times reports that the authorities are considering a number of questions about Ms Rayner’s affairs, including whether she broke electoral law, whether she paid the correct amount of capital gains tax when she sold her property, and what the council tax arrangements were at Vicarage Road.
The investigation into Ms Rayner was launched after Conservative MP and deputy party chairman James Daly complained to police after the GMP previously said it would not be investigating the allegations. Mr Daly said he had been made aware of neighbours contradicting Ms Rayner’s statement that her property, separate from her husband’s, was her main residence.
But several former Tory grandees have attacked the party’s campaign against the shadow levelling up secretary. In a piece in The Times, Mr Parris said the “’Get Rayner’ media mood” had been “whipped up by party politicians”, adding: “To me there’s more than a whiff both of misogyny and of class condescension in the portrayal of an uppity young woman — a left-winger for heaven’s sake — who has called the Tories rude names, benefited from Tory council-house sales and ought to know her place.”
He added: “Where was the Tory rage against the millionaire Nadhim Zahawi and his (he insists) mistaken tax declarations? Like the hounding of Peter Tatchell when he was a Labour candidate in a Bermondsey by-election in 1983, the Rayner affair is one of those stories we shall look back on and shudder at our loss of all perspective.”
Meanwhile, in a letter to the same newspaper, Mr Boles stated that Ms Rayner’s “attackers” cannot “bear the idea that they are about to lose to a woman who pulled herself up by her bootstraps. And who is going wipe the floor with them.”
The shadow levelling up secretary has promised to resign if she is found to have committed a crime but has stated that she is confident that she has done nothing wrong.
The Labour party said it remains confident Ms Rayner has complied with the rules, and the Ashton-under-Lyne MP “welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police”.
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the police investigation into Ms Rayner’s council house sale and said it will allow a “line to be drawn” on the issue.
He said: “We welcome this investigation because it will allow a line to be drawn in relation to this matter.
“I am fully confident that Angela Rayner has not broken the rules. She will co-operate with the investigation as you would expect and it is really a matter for the police.”
A number of legal experts have pointed out that even if Ms Rayner were found to have provided false information, it is unlikely any further action would be taken.
Scott Wortley, a law lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, pointed out that any potential prosecution should have been launched within a year of the suspected crime.
Providing false information is an offence under Section 13D of the Representation of the People Act 1983, but the legislation imposes a time limit of a year for bringing any charge. As the allegations surrounding Ms Rayner relate to pre-2015, this suggests it is unlikely that she could be prosecuted.
Magistrates may extend that deadline in certain circumstances, but only by another year, according to the act.
Sir Keir has previously said the Conservatives are “chasing a smear” in raising questions about the deputy leader and people were more interested in “problems caused by this Government”.
He said: “Angela Rayner has been asked no end of questions about this. She’s answered them all. She said she’s very happy to answer any further questions from the police or from any of the authorities.
“I don’t need to see the legal advice. My team has seen it.”
