Rachel Reeves and David Lammy have been sacked by Andy Burnham as the Prime Minister begins appointing his Cabinet.

I have never read anything at all about AB’s wife GrandmaBatty I didn’t even know he was married, and neither will most people.
I will feel free to comment on the dress and fashion sense of anyone in the public eye, regardless of what anyone else chooses to think.

Grandmabatty

"It’s nothing to do with running the country but the PM’s wife is always in the public glare and people will therefore comment.
Victoria Starmer had an advantage of being an attractive woman with a good figure and a stylish sense of what to wear.
Andy Burnham’s wife will hopefully soon realise what looks good and what doesn’t.I found the pale blue dress strangely baggy on the top half and far too tight on the bottom half."

That would be because the poor woman has had a double mastectomy which was relatively easy to discover.
I think comments about her dress etc are tasteless in the extreme.

Thanks for mentioning the double mastectomy. I thought all the posts negatively discussing her dress/ looks/figure were utterly disgraceful and demonstrated how alive and well misogyny might be perceived to be on GN.

Thank you for this post Graphite. It says it all. It shows why Labour government always has the cards stacked against them.

"It’s nothing to do with running the country but the PM’s wife is always in the public glare and people will therefore comment.
Victoria Starmer had an advantage of being an attractive woman with a good figure and a stylish sense of what to wear.
Andy Burnham’s wife will hopefully soon realise what looks good and what doesn’t.I found the pale blue dress strangely baggy on the top half and far too tight on the bottom half."

That would be because the poor woman has had a double mastectomy which was relatively easy to discover.
I think comments about her dress etc are tasteless in the extreme.

All this about Haigh is being stirred by the Daily Mail, of course.

It fails to mention that it receives a substantial amount of its revenue from Reform, which has received a substantial amount of its funding from convicted fraudster George Cottrell, the source of which cannot be traced and is now under investigation by the police.

Reform paid the Daily Mail over £900,000 alone for a week of sustained advertising from 28 May to 4 July 2024 (at the same time Cottrell was funnelling money into Reform) and has received substantial amounts since.

Nothing to see there, of course. Let’s focus on a 12 year old crime which was punished with a £100 fine. You can be fined more for littering.

Tuliptree

Oreo

I wouldn’t have Angela Rayner in any top job but the left ‘left’ in the Party would no doubt have demanded it.

Well fortunately you’re not the one making the decision. In her previous time as Housing Minister there were very positive reports

None of us are the ones making decisions, but we will all have our own opinions on the selections.

fancythat

All the excuses for appointing Louise Haigh are hollow.

a. why are standards of acceptable behaviour from people so low nowadays? Or is it out and out,
b. bias[I never knew people had so many biases until I went on Social Media. They are writ large. And that doesnt always work for the Labour Party only].

She was convicted of whatever she was convicted of.
Lying to the Police apart from anything else.

That is not acceptable behaviour from anyone. So say so. Dont let bias either get in the way, or cloud judgement[I am not speaking about anyone in particular].

And admit that that should not make someone a good enough candidate for such a high position of power.
At least I hope that that is what people really think.
Is there really no innocent people left in the Labour Party any more?
That a convicted person has to take the job?

A voice of sense. It is the fact that we are tolerant today for just about any wrong doing that leads young people to think there are no consequences. If we all knew that a conviction would ensure we could not stand for high office, becoming a superstar, etc, perhaps we would have a more honest society.

When my boy was young and he took something of mine to give to a young girl, we came down hard on him. When we were going to the USA to visit Disney we explained the consequences of how a criminal record might deny you entry. He never took anything again.

If Louise Haigh had telephoned the insurance company immediately she realised her mistake she could be forgive. However, the jury is out as to whether it was a mistake or not. As I understood it, she said that she wanted an upgrade of her phone at Aviva. How true that is, I don't know because you can't believe the press any more either.

Personally I'm sad to see Reeves removed, I believe she was handed a poisoned chalice in what she was faced with, but was damaged by what she had to do.

Oreo

I wouldn’t have Angela Rayner in any top job but the left ‘left’ in the Party would no doubt have demanded it.

Well fortunately you’re not the one making the decision. In her previous time as Housing Minister there were very positive reports

I was hoping Bridget Phillipson would go but I see she's been given another job, I'd even rather have RR than her! Would be interested to discover which job RR turned down. Very glad Healey has returned, I thought he might have been brought back to defence but much rather him as chancellor than Milliband. Shame about Darren Jones, he seemed to be very able but maybe considered to be too much of a Starmer supporter.

Doodledog

It's fair to say that she should have reported the phone when she found it. It's a bit like getting home from the shops and realising you didn't pay for coffee before leaving a cafe, as you left in a hurry and are used to paying at the counter when you order.

I have done that before, and next time I was passing I went in and paid. If I had been tracked down in the few days between visits would that make me a liar and a fraudster who is unworthy of future employment?

I agree that she didn’t behave as she should, she ended up being charged and with a conditional discharge. She’s paid the price. All the evidence shows she has been a hardworking MP and shadow minister and there’s no suggestion she’s offended again. Why shouldn’t she be able to serve again in government?

I wouldn’t have Angela Rayner in any top job but the left ‘left’ in the Party would no doubt have demanded it.

Tuliptree

Oreo

It’s nothing to do with running the country but the PM’s wife is always in the public glare and people will therefore comment.
Victoria Starmer had an advantage of being an attractive woman with a good figure and a stylish sense of what to wear.
Andy Burnham’s wife will hopefully soon realise what looks good and what doesn’t.I found the pale blue dress strangely baggy on the top half and far too tight on the bottom half.

For goodness sake.

😃

I read that LH was charged with fraud, not sure if the phone thing was a mistake ( people always say that don’t they?) but everyone deserves a second chance.
Glad that Healey got the Chancellor job and tho I like Wes Streeting I think it would have been better to have kept Dan Jarvis in the Defence job.

All the excuses for appointing Louise Haigh are hollow.

a. why are standards of acceptable behaviour from people so low nowadays? Or is it out and out,
b. bias[I never knew people had so many biases until I went on Social Media. They are writ large. And that doesnt always work for the Labour Party only].

She was convicted of whatever she was convicted of.
Lying to the Police apart from anything else.

That is not acceptable behaviour from anyone. So say so. Dont let bias either get in the way, or cloud judgement[I am not speaking about anyone in particular].

And admit that that should not make someone a good enough candidate for such a high position of power.
At least I hope that that is what people really think.
Is there really no innocent people left in the Labour Party any more?
That a convicted person has to take the job?

Oreo

It’s nothing to do with running the country but the PM’s wife is always in the public glare and people will therefore comment.
Victoria Starmer had an advantage of being an attractive woman with a good figure and a stylish sense of what to wear.
Andy Burnham’s wife will hopefully soon realise what looks good and what doesn’t.I found the pale blue dress strangely baggy on the top half and far too tight on the bottom half.

For goodness sake.

It’s nothing to do with running the country but the PM’s wife is always in the public glare and people will therefore comment.
Victoria Starmer had an advantage of being an attractive woman with a good figure and a stylish sense of what to wear.
Andy Burnham’s wife will hopefully soon realise what looks good and what doesn’t.I found the pale blue dress strangely baggy on the top half and far too tight on the bottom half.

Oh no! Disgraced Ms Rayner is back. We can say goodbye to the Green Belt.

Since when did two wrongs make a right?

Never.

It's fair to say that she should have reported the phone when she found it. It's a bit like getting home from the shops and realising you didn't pay for coffee before leaving a cafe, as you left in a hurry and are used to paying at the counter when you order.

I have done that before, and next time I was passing I went in and paid. If I had been tracked down in the few days between visits would that make me a liar and a fraudster who is unworthy of future employment?

How many people criticising break the law by paying cash for jobs? If you knowingly participate in an arrangement that will lead to not paying VAT or income tax-HMRC can view you as actively facilitating tax fraud.

(Even my window washer leaves a receipt)

Graphite

It was 12 years ago for a Blackberry and she was fined £100.

Reform’s James McMurdock went to jail for kicking his girlfriend multiple times in a drunken rage and yet was welcomed as an MP. He may have left under a cloud for claiming bounce bank loans on dormant companies but he still promotes Reform through his social media and sits on the HoC bench with them rather than with the the independents on the bench behind.

It may only be a matter of time before Farage is arrested for fraud (or contempt of court over Ann Widdecombe’s murder).

And while Honest Bob (also under investigation for dodgy donations) does the media round claiming Burnham is not yet tried and tested as a PM and Parliamentarian leader, he conveniently forgets that his own boss, who he backs as PM would be in exactly the same position with far less experience in Parliament and has lead nothing other that a very small and fluctuating number of former Tories.

She was advised to plead fraud in what was a lost phone mistake therefore technically a fraud, before she knew it might cripple a career.

And quite right say for goodness sake looks what going on with Farage - we need a sense of proportion for goodness sake.

Louise Haigh is, BTW, a superb constituency MP, and has been for years.

13:03*Primrose*53

She also lost her job at Aviva so they obviously didn't believe her story one would presume. Also why did she plead guilty if she was innocent and why didn't she report she had found the phone when she got home after being mugged. She only got found out when the phone was switched on again. Aviva obviously didn't believe her.

I’m puzzled here did she or did she not neglect to pay the correct tax?

I assume you mean Rayner’s SDLT.

She has now paid it. It is best to read Dan Neidle’s very detailed analysis of a very complex case.

taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/05/14/why-did-hmrc-not-charge-angela-rayner-a-penalty/

The issue here was carelessness not fraud.

The government define fraud as:

as any deliberate omission, concealment or misinterpretation of information, or the false or deceptive presentation of information or circumstances in order to gain a tax advantage.

By contrast, Farage’s £5 million payment from Harborne, which is now alleged by people within Reform to have been compensation for potential loss of earnings from GB News if he became an MP is, prima facie, disguised remuneration. That fact that he concealed the payment on which over £2 million in tax should have been paid would very likely be considered fraud.

David49

Tuliptree

Bukkie

Why can fraudsters like half a brain cell Rayner, Louise Haigh and Reed be reappointed yet a teacher, nurse, shop worker, office worker etc... can't?

Your comment about AR’s intelligence is pathetic. Your comment about her being a fraudster is libellous .

Im puzzled here did she or did she not neglect to pay the correct tax?

She did not pay the correct amount g of tax initially because of the Brighton flat eventually being classified as a second home. She was convicted of nothing and to call her a fraudster is libellous