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Is this trust a lot more complicated than what we’ve already heard ? And wouldn’t those tax advisers have asked for more detail before giving their advice if that was the case .

I tend to think Rayner genuinely didn’t try and rip off the HMRC because that would have been just so short sighted and risky given what happened last year .

Surely no one would be this stupid . It could be that she simply can’t prove that it was a genuine error and will end up going because of that .

This would be a massive loss to Labour because she was seen as the natural successor to Starmer , someone with a back story that meant she was seen as one of us not one of them .

If she's done for its a win for the UK. She is ghastly in so many ways. The thought of her as Prine Minister is just hideous.

Does anyone know who gave the Telegraph information on Angela's tax affairs?
That would surely be a more interesting inquiry into misogamy than yet another investigation into men trying to weedle their way into womens toilsts for a perversion that no one has ever come across.

There are some sick rightwing journals and TV stations around at the moment that hate the idea of an uppity lefty woman with a bit of spirir. We've seen it with 'Rachel in accounts' and we're seeing it with 'Angela from Ashton'.

For what it's worth I can't see who in her position would have done anything differently. She had no financial interest in her old house so would have just paid what her conveyancer had told her she owed.

When everyone was attacking Zahawi over his tax affairs was that misandry or maybe racism?

Do you think maybe people just don’t like politicians who might have been stupid, especially ones who have spent years attacking opponents fiercely and demanding resignations non-stop for errors etc, regardless of sex or background.

Do you wonder where the Telegraph got their information about Rayner's tax affairs. Do you think they would do a similar dig into farage's bank previous house living arrangements trust's for his children? I don't. I don't think they'd have dared. She's an easy target. She doesn't know the best lawyers. She can't plant a writ on them as soon as she gets word they're up to their usual crap. I happen not to be a fan of Rayner but the Telegraph Express and Mail make me want to vomit

Does that include the Guardian reporting on this

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/04/angela-rayner-used-family-conveyancing-firm-to-buy-tax-row-flat?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

That was based on a public statement made by the conveyancing firm in question.

What Roger is asking is: who was it that worked out that Raynor had underpaid stamp duty & told the Telegraph? That information is not public, so they must have had access to private information about Raynor’s tax affairs in order to find out about it in the first place.

Maybe but if everything is above board why worry

We have a media industry full of investigative journalists seeking a gotcha

Which is why we need to worry.

Whether Rayner has done anything wrong (probably, if only by careless omission), or anything wrong enough for it to be a sacking offence (I don't know, and I doubt anyone else does at this point either) is only loosely correlated to whether she will go, or to how much the ladies and gentlemen of the press will demand that she does go.

On one level, so what- politics isn't fair, life isn't fair. There are potenitally brilliant ministers of the One Nation tradition who we will never hear from, because the prime of their political lifetime corresponds to the time that tadition is dead. That some politicans have their cupboards ransacked for skeletons whilst others don't... that's a different kind of unfairness, especially when most of the media doesn't really exist comercially, but as the plaything of very specific sorts of benefactors. If you want to manipulate the answers, the easiest way is to manage the setting of the questions.

(Incidentally, was the story of Rayner's child's needs known before all this blew up? I like to think I pay reasonable attention to that sort of thing, and I didn't know.)

Does anyone know who gave the Telegraph information on Angela's tax affairs?
That would surely be a more interesting inquiry into misogamy than yet another investigation into men trying to weedle their way into womens toilsts for a perversion that no one has ever come across.

There are some sick rightwing journals and TV stations around at the moment that hate the idea of an uppity lefty woman with a bit of spirir. We've seen it with 'Rachel in accounts' and we're seeing it with 'Angela from Ashton'.

For what it's worth I can't see who in her position would have done anything differently. She had no financial interest in her old house so would have just paid what her conveyancer had told her she owed.

When everyone was attacking Zahawi over his tax affairs was that misandry or maybe racism?

Do you think maybe people just don’t like politicians who might have been stupid, especially ones who have spent years attacking opponents fiercely and demanding resignations non-stop for errors etc, regardless of sex or background.

Do you wonder where the Telegraph got their information about Rayner's tax affairs? Do you think they would do a similar dig into Farage's bank, previous house, living arrangements, trust's for his children? I don't. I don't think they'd have dared. She's an easy target. She doesn't know the best lawyers. She can't plant a writ on them as soon as she gets word they're up to their usual crap. I happen not to be a fan of Rayner but the Telegraph Express and Mail make me want to vomit

I also seem to remember much press comment and glee over Farage’s banking issues with Coutts.

Yes, it was all pretty funny and then it turned out he was right, which certainly caused me some whiplash.

Universities in England might in future have to charge different levels of tuition fees depending on the quality of their teaching, the higher education regulator has suggested.

Well that Oxbridge fucked then....

Had a very pleasant pub lunch with sister-in-law Stodge and nephew Stodge who is going to York next week to study commercial law.

Now, I'm aware some would have me believe the best he can hope for is to be flipping burgers with his degree - his brother works in a bar with his - but I'm cautiously optimistic he will do well. I've already taught him the two most important legal words - pro bono - in case his Uncle ever needs commercial legal advice.

The loan is about £10k per year - 45 years ago, when I started life as an undergraduate, I got full grant, I'd saved some money from working for a year aftert leaving school and beer was 35p a pint in the student bar, three pints for a quid.

The times, they've been a-changin'. I realise on almost a daily basis how fortunate I have been to have lived when I have but I can only hope at some point in the future, when our current problems have been solved, beer can be cheap once again.

Agreed. The contrast - and the attitude of some of our contemporaries even many years ago - upsets me almosr every day, and is one reasom some of my charitable donations go to helping students today focus a bit more on their studies.

Anyway good night all before I get more upset about it.

💸 Angela Rayner’s family home was valued at almost twice the amount of other recently sold properties on her street when she sold a stake to her disabled son’s trust so she could buy a holiday home

Read more 👇

https://x.com/telegraph/status/1963642234475065671?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q

Suggesting that she scammed her son's trust fund?

Let's repeat my post from earlier

If a surveyor used the comparators in that article to calculator fair price they wouldn't have a leg to stand on were they to be sued... A 3 bed semi definitely isn't a reasonable comparison to a 4 bed detached especially 1 adapted at vast expense to meet someone's particular needs.

What you are then left with is the difficult question of how do you value a property especially adapted for the needs of someone who needs a property to be adapted. Which if £80,000 of adaptions would be required to your typical £550,000 home may make a £630,000 valuation reasonable under the circumstances...

Specialist adaptations are likely to reduce the value to a third party

I wouldn’t be surprised if they have just added £80k to the value on the grounds that’s what they spent (and perhaps used a value from the time of the divorce)

But the value to the beneficiary of the trust fund is what counts here.

Edit: already sorted by @eek .

I very much doubt that would wash. Just because something is worth more to you than the seller it doesn’t mean you pay the full worth to you.

(I wouldn’t be surprised if the trust had paid for the modifications anyway…)

I'm not sure about that.

The child was born in 2008, and the settlement was received in 2020.

Given that he is registered blind, I'd suggest modifications would have been needed earlier.

I'd say it is likely they did a lot first, but the trust may well have done some since. And Local Authority funding would be available for major alterations (up to low 5 figures), under a scheme which I think is not means tested but would be limited to major adaptations - there's an elderly couple near me who had a lift installed.

Does anyone know who gave the Telegraph information on Angela's tax affairs?
That would surely be a more interesting inquiry into misogamy than yet another investigation into men trying to weedle their way into womens toilsts for a perversion that no one has ever come across.

There are some sick rightwing journals and TV stations around at the moment that hate the idea of an uppity lefty woman with a bit of spirir. We've seen it with 'Rachel in accounts' and we're seeing it with 'Angela from Ashton'.

For what it's worth I can't see who in her position would have done anything differently. She had no financial interest in her old house so would have just paid what her conveyancer had told her she owed.

When everyone was attacking Zahawi over his tax affairs was that misandry or maybe racism?

Do you think maybe people just don’t like politicians who might have been stupid, especially ones who have spent years attacking opponents fiercely and demanding resignations non-stop for errors etc, regardless of sex or background.

Do you wonder where the Telegraph got their information about Rayner's tax affairs? Do you think they would do a similar dig into Farage's bank, previous house, living arrangements, trust's for his children? I don't. I don't think they'd have dared. She's an easy target. She doesn't know the best lawyers. She can't plant a writ on them as soon as she gets word they're up to their usual crap. I happen not to be a fan of Rayner but the Telegraph Express and Mail make me want to vomit

There’s a guy she works with who was at the top of the legal profession, she might have asked him, or any of the multitude of gov legal advisers if they knew good property lawyers.

The tactics of the newspapers leave a lot to be desired for many reasons but frankly it’s no surprise that when someone who had set themselves up over years as the witch finder General now finds themself accused of being a witch, the newspapers will go into overdrive.

I also seem to remember much press comment and glee over Farage’s banking issues with Coutts.

Isn't that a bit like asking Mr Verstappen if he could recommend a good place to service a Mini?

I’m sure SKS could have said “use xyz, they did my house purchase” and he’s not going to give a duff recommendation. The idea that the deputy PM of the UK couldn’t ask someone who knows who to use and had to rely on her wits and moxy is silly.

But why bother? And the issue is not so much how excellent the conveyancer is as how that particular arcane overlap between conveyancging and tax law didn't come to the surface. If one thinks one has a Mini one's not going to ask for [edit] a Morgan service.

If only Dura was around to adjudicate!