Angela Rayner resigns - can a reshuffle save Labour?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 September 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Keir Starmer announced 'Phase 2' of his government on Monday - a reset of his Downing St operation supposed to get Labour gripping the agenda and on the front foot for the year ahead.
Just four days on, the PM faces his biggest test yet. Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, housing secretary, and deputy Labour leader resigning after a breach of the ministerial code for not paying the correct tax on the purchase of a flat in Hove.
In response, Starmer is undergoing a sweeping reshuffle - only the chancellor Rachel Reeves was told her job was safe ahead of time.
What happens now? Could a left-wing candidate cause Starmer a major political headache if they run to replace Rayner as deputy leader? Will Rayner become a lightning rod on the backbenches? Does Starmer risk creating yet more enemies in sacking cabinet ministers?
Can Starmer use this moment to bolster his authority - or is it his most destabilising day in office?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.7 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:13.0 | So we're going to Phase 2, 1st of September 2025, in good spirits, confident and with conviction about what we're doing. |
| 0:21.8 | That was Kirstama on hopeful Monday. |
| 0:25.8 | By Friday, the world looks an utterly different place for him |
| 0:30.4 | as his leadership is plagued by the forced resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rainer. |
| 0:39.1 | She resigns not just as Deputy Prime Minister, |
| 0:42.4 | but as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. |
| 0:45.4 | What happens to Stama's government |
| 0:47.1 | and to the shape of the Labour Party now? |
| 0:50.4 | This was the week he called a reset. |
| 0:53.3 | It couldn't have ended in a worse way. Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:01.0 | The Newsagents. It's John. It's Emily. And it's Lewis. Where are you? I'm at the centre of the political universe right now, John, which is Cape Cod. Don't think it's been central of the political universe since the 1960s, actually, but I'm just making sure everything's in |
| 1:15.6 | order. Yeah, I mean, Kennedy era, you are at the center of the political universe. The Rainer |
| 1:21.0 | era, not so much. It's all anyone's talking about on Nantucket. Where is the Rainer era? |
| 1:28.4 | Is the Rainer rain rained? |
| 1:30.3 | Exactly. |
| 1:30.9 | That is where we're starting today with the resignation of Angela Rainer, which I guess |
| 1:35.7 | had been on the cards since about Wednesday. |
| 1:38.9 | Entirely possible, but not confirmed until about 12 o'clock today. Yeah, and as we're sitting here, the time it's half |
| 1:47.7 | past two in the afternoon. So there's a lot that is still moving. Ministers being rung up to be |
| 1:54.1 | promoted, ministers being run up told, you have got the boot. But I guess we've got to start with |
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