[Sephiroth]

If we grant that Rayner was misadvised by the tax lawyer/accountant, we come down her personality and image.

On the face of it, she, as a tax-paying citizen, engineered her property transactions to minimise tax liability. That is entirely legal.

Selling her share of the constituency home to the son's trust fund seems not to have crossed any legal lines. Bottom line would be that the money is realisable when/if the asset is liquidated. But, it's obviously part of the wheeze that any Conservative would have been shamed by her for doing.

The waters then muddy further. In this saga, she has two primary residences; one in the constituency for council tax purposes (but she doesn't own any of that); the other is a primary residence in Hove for Stamp Duty purposes. The second 'wheeze' has fallen through and she owes HMRC £40,000 - a huge sum for ordinary working people.

Politically, she is the Housing SoS (failing) and it's one law for her and another law for 'ordinary working people' - at least that's the perception. Remember also, that she labelled Conservative ministers as "****" (2021). By corollary, that remark applied to all Conservative voters. Her anti-Tory resentment will not have gone away, particularly now that said '****' are going after her.

Next, there is Starmer. GB News is doing an excellent job digging up all the righteous speeches he has made about Boris, Patel and other Conservatives. Now Starmer needs to think carefully about what he says and does - because his words will always be made to haunt him by the media. The people generally dislike Starmer as much as they are now turning on Rayner. If Starmer does not remove her from office, or if she does not resign, he will be in Boris territory.

Finally: will a donor/benefactor come forward to shove £40,000 her way? Will that benefactor buy the Hove property from her and then allow her to live there? And isn't the Hove property, a constituency bolt hole for her because she fears her Ashton seat will be lost?