Starmer Shakes Up UK Government After Messy Rayner Departure

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forced to reshuffle his year-old government in the wake of his deputy’s sudden resignation over failing to pay proper taxes on her private home.

Starmer was forced to advance the shake-up on Friday after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner stepped down from official roles as No. 2 of both the government and the Labour Party. The departure threw Downing Street into further disarray in a week that Starmer had hoped would mark “phase two” of an administration dogged by disunity and falling poll numbers against Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK.