Every Saturday paper leads on Angela Rayner’s resignation – after she failed to pay enough stamp duty on her flat in Hove – and the ministerial shake-up it triggered. The Times headline reads “The great Rayner reshuffle”, reporting on Sir Keir Starmer’s new cabinet appointments as he tries to “overhaul his top team”.
The Daily Mail calls it “nightmare on Downing Street”. The paper says Yvette Cooper is appointed foreign secretary after “failing to tackle the small boats crisis” from her position in the Home Office. Former Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will take up Cooper’s previous position.
The i Weekend says Shabana Mahmood, the new home secretary, is a “rising star” in the Labour Party, and has been “installed” in the Home Office to take a “harder line” on migrants and “slow Nigel Farage’s momentum”.
“Exit Rayner, now Starmer takes the fight to Reform” reads the headline of the Daily Telegraph, picturing MPs Pat McFadden and Ed Miliband alongside an image of Rayner. According to the paper, Miliband will retain his post as net zero secretary, while McFadden has been given a new “super-charged” department that will focus on “growth, containing benefits, pensions and skills briefs”.
“Starmer upends his cabinet after Rayner resigns over tax scandal” says the Financial Times. The paper calls the reshuffle a “big gamble”, and says that the moving of 11 ministers into new roles raises questions about whether they will perform better after the change.
“PM battles to contain crisis” says the Guardian, writing that fallout from the controversy is “likely to further damage Labour’s reputation”. The front page features a quote from Rayner’s resignation letter, which reads “for a teenage mum from a council estate to served at the highest level of government has been the greatest honour of my life”.
The Mirror brands Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a “stamp duty ‘hypocrite'”, alleging that he would have had to pay additional stamp duty for a home in Clacton were it not purchased by his partner.
Farage says Labour is “not fit to govern”, is a quote carried by the front page of the Daily Express. The paper writes that the Reform UK leader has urged voters to “kick Sir Keir Starmer’s government out of No10”, vowing to “save Britain”.
“Rayn’s over” says the Saturday edition of the Star, labelling the subsequent changes to cabinet a “government meltdown” and “frontbench mayhem”.
“Sunk” declares the Sun, with a photo of Rayner in an inflatable boat emblazoned on the front page.
The Times calls it “The Great Rayner Reshuffle” and thinks its scale, just over a year after winning a landslide election, reflects deep concern about the government’s collapse in the polls and the rise of Reform UK. The Financial Times calls the reshuffle a “big gamble” – because many ministers have simply been moved to new jobs rather than been sacked, raising questions about whether their performance will actually improve.
The paper says: “Angela Rayner is someone who could reach places that the PM can’t, which is part of why their opposites-attract partnership made sense.” The Sun says she was “cut adrift” but thinks the trouble she has caused the prime minister could get a lot worse. “To her legions of militant supporters,” it says, “she is far from a busted flush – she is a martyr, and soon quite possibly their Red Queen over the water”.
Farage is the focus for the Daily Express. It leads with his warning that Labour are “not fit to govern” – saying he “twisted the knife” in a stricken government with his claim that his party could win a general election in two years’ time.
