Angela Rayner dancing whilst on holiday in Ibiza

My point is that she wasn't an MP when she sold the house which you have agreed with.

foxie48 I don’t think MPs have an exemption from paying capital gains taxes? So?

Makes no odds what she was or wasn’t, since both the police and HMRC have concluded there were no improprieties, and no tax avoidance or evasion.

Neither, annoying as some may find it, is there anything wrong or hypocritical in buying a house under existing legislation, and then coming, over a period of years and as the disastrous effects of that policy become clearer, to realise that it needs to change. Not, of course, that there has been any official announcement that it’s going to.

Re the OP
I’d only be concerned if she was dancing round the HoC in high heels. Be grateful the media are not interested in what you do or wear whilst on holiday.

Mollygo

Re the OP
I’d only be concerned if she was dancing round the HoC in high heels. Be grateful the media are not interested in what you do or wear whilst on holiday.

I can't imagine how vile it must be to be of media interest with every aspect of your life picked over for any misdemeanor or fashion faux pas. Does anyone remember Cherie Blair being photographed on her front step after the GE in 1997? The comments about her were horrible. Nothing changes does it? I'm so glad I don't have the media on my doorstep watching my every move. I have a pretty unremarkable life but I bet they'd find something unpleasant to write about me or photograph.

Don’t you think the comments about the green trouser suit were completely ignored by AR? In fact wasn’t she wearing it again for PMQs today paired with a very pleasing pair of green shoes? Water off a duck’s back etc ….

ronib

Don’t you think the comments about the green trouser suit were completely ignored by AR? In fact wasn’t she wearing it again for PMQs today paired with a very pleasing pair of green shoes? Water off a duck’s back etc ….

Good for her if she was wearing it, she’s feisty enough to give as good as she gets, but who knows how she feels inside? None of us!

Cossy I really doubt that AR has the time or inclination to trawl through social media for an update on her wardrobe. Her special advisors probably won’t draw her attention to any adverse comments either. Surely a very busy lady?

I must admit that I haven’t found the time to listen to it ( I’ll make a point of listening to it tonight) but Rory and Alastair say that the interview with Angela Rayner on their Leading podcast is one of the best interviews on it. Which is quite an accolade given the calibre of people they’ve interviewed since it started. I’d be interested to hear what people think of it. I’d like to think that the people who knock her will make a point of listening to it, too.

MayBee70 I've listened to it and was impressed with her honesty, humour and humility. She's a good communicator and I really warmed to her just as AC and RS did. What also impressed me was her willingness to talk about her difficult background without blame or self pity. She also answered the questions, which is rare these days.

MayBee70 Very good podcast. I hope AR is able to effect her plans for social housing. I think AR is very well placed to improve treatment for bipolar disorder sufferers and I hope she can at least get the ball rolling further down the line. AR seems to have a bright future in politics. But Rory Stewart’s jumper …… that’s something else!
Rachael Reeves and Keir Starmer are both in danger of appearing to be tone deaf and this might be where AR can help out most.

Just finished listening to it. Was very impressed. She has an incredibly balanced view on things. I’ve always liked her anyway but think I’ll see her in a whole new light now.

It was interesting, particularly the prisons discussion and the question(which she dodged at first) about Starmer being more radical in government than whilst campaigning, in the light of what we’ve seen so far since the election.

The transcript, obviously done by American-programmed AI, is hilarious - it cannot cope with her accent at all.

ronib

Well let’s just say Ibiza is not an aspirational destination for a member of the ruling elite?

But the Glyndebourne opera festival is- and she was criticised for going to that, too. Apparently, if working class people can afford to go, they are champagne socialists.

If she dances in Ibiza, it's not upmarket enough.

I think she's going to be condemned / criticised wherever she goes. By someone or other.

I think she's going to be condemned / criticised wherever she goes. By someone or other.

No wonder she fits very well on GN then.

If that had been Yvette Cooper or any politician seen to be drinking vodka all night, the criticism would be the same. Also in a very expensive nightclub with drugs available. If Keir Starmer is wanting to stop smoking in pub gardens, he won’t have strong grounds for trying to curb excessive drinking and drug taking will he if senior politicians don’t set a good example?

Any woman MP and especially in the cabinet past and present have always been easy targets. Way back in the early days of Barbara Castle,Margaret Thatcher,Shirley Williams etc the critics had a go at them over everything they did or said and what they wore. I remember long ago when there where no woman's toilets in the house of commons . And wow betide a woman MP who breast feed her baby at work.

While male MP got away with murder and could be banging their lover in their office and got away with it.

Any MP who where in a same sex relationship where hounded day and night by the press.

We are supposed to be living in a more tolerant society but it's still one rule for some and another for others.

ronib

If that had been Yvette Cooper or any politician seen to be drinking vodka all night, the criticism would be the same. Also in a very expensive nightclub with drugs available. If Keir Starmer is wanting to stop smoking in pub gardens, he won’t have strong grounds for trying to curb excessive drinking and drug taking will he if senior politicians don’t set a good example?

Are you implying that she was taking drugs as well as dancing then?

MayBee70 no.
But the environment is definitely a questionable choice for any senior politician.
AR said in the podcast that she liked to go out dancing as a 14 year old. She is no longer that 14 year old and needs to reconsider her choices.

I quite like dancing. I'm 72.

Back to work with a bump, on TV today wrestling with the
Grenfell debacle wearing normal business clothes.

The buck stops with her now to get things done, buildings reclad, compensation paid, I hope she makes a difference.

I have just read that stamp duty is changing so buying a property will become even more expensive. Good start. Not.

Mollygo

^I think she's going to be condemned / criticised wherever she goes. By someone or other.^

No wonder she fits very well on GN then.

Well she can join the like of May, Truss, Sunak, Boris, all pecked over on here by the some GN, with great relish.. What's good enough for them, good enough for her, don't you think??

The point about Angela Rayner is the endless criticism usually focusses on her northern accent, clothing etc rather than policies. Johnson Sunak Truss May etc - all criticised for policies

ronib

I have just read that stamp duty is changing so buying a property will become even more expensive. Good start. Not.

Where did you read that ronib, was it in the article in the Telegraph where James Cleverly, Tory leadership hopeful, is saying if he was PM he would abolish it?