The first thing to say about Lord Ashcroft is that he has acquired a certain reputation in the UK since he wrote about David Cameron and the pig. Nine years ago, in the unauthorized biography “Call me Dave,” Ashcroft described how the former British prime minister was said to have been involved in an indecent ritual during his college years involving “a private part of his body” and the head of a dead pig should have. Cameron refused to comment at all on the matter known as “Piggate” at the time, but Lord Ashcroft has since secured the nation’s attention when he publishes unauthorized biographies of politicians.
In mid-March, Ashcroft’s latest work, “The Red Queen?”, an unauthorized biography of Angela Rayner, the red-haired Labor deputy leader, was published. Although the book lacks pigheads, it does not lack anecdotes with potential for excitement. One of them has been occupying the British media for weeks. For the British, and especially for Rayner and the Labor Party, the matter is also the first foretaste of the next few months, the upcoming, possibly dirty election campaign.
At the core of the matter is the question of whether Angela Rayner overlooked or even deliberately failed to pay tax debts, and at what address she lived during her marriage to Mark Rayner. The story is not entirely straightforward, but the details are important to understand the political difference between fact and accusation.
Where did Rayner live when she sold her house?
It began when Rayner grew up in a working-class family supported by state welfare and in 2007 bought her family’s house in the Manchester area for a low rent. This is a common occurrence in Great Britain when the income circumstances of the people being supported change; the right to home ownership is a value deeply anchored in the British soul. Rayner, then called Angela Bowen and a single mother of one son, paid £79,000 for the house, at the time she was working as a social worker and a senior union member. In 2010 she married trade unionist Mark Rayner and the couple had two more sons. Mark Rayner also owned a house, and it is from this point in the story that British tax law begins to play a role.
Anyone who buys and sells a house in the UK must pay tax on the profit made – unless an exception applies. For married partners who own several properties, one main residence can be reported to the tax authorities, which is then the property that would be exempt from tax if sold. Rayner sold her house in 2015 for £127,500, which would have made a taxable gain of £48,500, although she paid no tax at the time. The accusation that Ashcroft has now formulated and that the British media and various tax experts have been chewing over for weeks is that Rayner and her husband lived mostly in his house, so she would have had to pay tax on the sale of her house. According to estimates, the sum is between 1,500 and 3,500 pounds, a little more than 4,000 euros, at most.
Rayner insists she made no mistake. It is possible, noted tax expert Dan Neidle explained, that she invested so much in renovations that there was no taxable profit left. When asked by various Tories that she disclose her tax returns, Rayner responded defiantly: She would be happy to do so, but only if those who demanded it also published theirs.
Nobody doubts that the allegations are politically motivated
Tory-affiliated papers like this Daily Mail recently appeared almost daily with headlines that seemed almost absurd (“Rayner is making a fool of you, Keir!” referring to Labor leader Keir Starmer). In any case, no one doubts that there is a political motivation behind the matter. Local elections will take place in the kingdom on May 2nd, in which the Tories are predicted to have a disastrous result. Several mayors will be elected, including in London, as well as many local councils across the country, and according to the polls, many Tories could lose their jobs.
In addition, Michael Ashcroft is not only the author of unauthorized books, but was once deputy leader of the Tories and sat in the House of Lords for years as a Tory Lord. Until, ironically, he had to resign in 2015 due to discrepancies in his tax status. Ashcroft is a billionaire and is considered one of the richest 150 Britons; in recent years he has donated several hundred thousand pounds to the Conservatives.
Rayner’s communications strategy of insisting she did the right thing and trying to throw the blame back on the Tories could have unfavorable consequences for her boss Starmer and her party. Police in Greater Manchester announced at the weekend that they were investigating, following a tip-off from a Tory MP. However, the tax issue is not relevant for the police; from a legal point of view, it would be statute-barred even in the unlikely event of an offense. But the address question: If Rayner actually lived primarily in her then-husband’s house in the years before she was elected as an MP and not in her own house, as she stated in the electoral register, then that would be a violation of the law .
Rayner said she would of course resign in the case. A police meeting was held on Monday to discuss how to proceed. A long-term investigation is to be expected, painfully long – or pleasantly long, depending on your perspective.