DAN HODGES: What the ugly saga over Angela Rayner's 会議 houses tells us about 労働

• e-mail

297

見解（をとる）
comments

Once again, it's not the offence but the cover-up. It's 現在／一般に impossible to say with certainty which, if any, 支配するs Angela Rayner broke during the period she and her family owned two houses in Stockport ? both former 会議 houses 購入（する）d under the Tories' 開拓するing 権利-to-buy 政策.

And the 推論する／理由 for this is because she still stubbornly 辞退するs to publish the 証拠 that would （疑いを）晴らす up the whole sorry saga.

But on the facts that have 現れるd, it seems obvious there is a 事例／患者 to answer.

Her （人命などを）奪う，主張する that she lived in one 所有物／資産／財産 while her new husband, children and brother lived in another is not 信頼できる. 隣人s interviewed by 非常に／多数の マスコミ 出口s have 確認するd she was not 占領するing that house during the years in question. And the way she and the 労働 Party have 試みる／企てるd to stonewall scrutiny of the 問題／発行する 示すs a belief there is something there to hide.

But even if some 支配するs were broken, it's not obvious that they would be of such a magnitude they would 妨げる Rayner from continuing in public life. Or precipitate a serious 起訴 by the police or His Majesty's 歳入 And Customs.

What the reaction to the political 嵐／襲撃する buffeting 労働's 副 leader does 事業／計画（する）, however, is what we can 推定する／予想する when she and her party get their 手渡すs on the reins of 力／強力にする in a few months. And it makes for ugly 見解（をとる）ing.

A ４半期/4分の1 of a century ago, the high-飛行機で行くing Tory 大臣 Jonathan Aitken 開始する，打ち上げるd a doomed 試みる／企てる to quash scrutiny of his 財政上の 事件／事情／状勢s by 誓約（する）ing to （軍隊を）展開する，配備する 'the simple sword of truth and the trusty 保護物，者 of fair play'. Today, Rayner continues to 試みる／企てる to deflect questions over her own 財政上の 取引 with the sword of 回避 and the twin 保護物，者s of arrogance and hypocrisy.

On Thursday she appeared on 無線で通信する 4's Today programme and dismissively told interviewer Nick Robinson: 'I don't need to publish all of my 詳細（に述べる）s.' To do so would be an 侵入占拠 into her family's privacy, she 主張するd, before 追加するing that she'd been 'very （疑いを）晴らす' on the advice received に引き続いて the sale of her 会議 house.

Angela Rayner has not been （疑いを）晴らす. 特に, she has failed to explain or rationalise the bizarre 主張 that she was living apart from her husband and children for the first five years of their marriage ? staying in a house one-and-a-half miles from the family home.

She has failed to 立証する her （人命などを）奪う，主張する of receiving 独立した・無所属 税金 advice （疑いを）晴らすing her of any 悪事を働くこと with regard to 資本／首都 伸び（る）s 税金 ? advice her boss Sir Keir Starmer says he has never seen. And she has failed to 確認する or 否定する if she 合法的に 利益d from a 選び出す／独身-person 割引 on her 会議 税金.

There are a number of possible 推論する／理由s for this obfuscation, beyond the obvious suggestion that she knows 十分な 井戸／弁護士席 she's been caught bang to 権利s.

Rayner and her 同盟（する）s genuinely seem to believe she shouldn't 直面する any 主張s of 財政上の impropriety, because such perfidy is the 保存する of the evil Tories who have done much worse. They think she should be absolved of scrutiny because she's a woman and is 存在 直面するd with sexist inquisition of her and her family.

And they think that as a working-class 選び出す／独身 mother at the time she was 配分するd her 会議 house, she's now 存在 的d because of her しつけ and ability to 反抗する the political 半端物s. Justifications which are as threadbare as they are self-serving.

Yes, a number of Tory MPs have been （刑事）被告 of 財政上の impropriety. And when they have been, Rayner has led the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 against them.

'Rishi Sunak 約束d a 政府 of 正直さ, professionalism and accountability, but instead he's propping up a motley 乗組員 of スキャンダル-ridden 大臣s,' she 激怒（する）d when the Tories' former chairman Nadhim Zahawi 直面するd questions over millions of 続けざまに猛撃するs of 未払いの 税金s.

But when Zahawi's murky 取引 were 明らかにする／漏らすd, he 辞職するd. And no one （人命などを）奪う，主張するd he'd been the 支配する of a 'witch 追跡（する）'.

Rayner also 長，率いるd the pack that smelled 血 over the 非，不，無-dom status of the 総理大臣's Indian-born wife. 'A fish rots from the 長，率いる. It is the 総理大臣's 責任／義務 to bring this debacle to a の近くに,' she 宣言するd, before sending a 詳細（に述べる）d letter 需要・要求するing answers about Akshata Murty's 税金 事件／事情／状勢s to the 独立した・無所属 助言者 on 大臣の 利益／興味s. On that occasion, the privacy of 政治家，政治屋s' families was みなすd of 第２位 importance to the need for 'transparency'.

Nor does Rayner seem to feel special 治療 should be 認めるd to Tory 政治家，政治屋s who have fought their way up from 類似の working-class backgrounds. Nadine Dorries, who was raised in an Anfield 会議 house, was 解任するd as 'Boris Johnson's 大臣 for 故意の誤報' while former 鉱夫 物陰／風下 Anderson was slammed for 'not living in the real world'.