‘Some brass neck’: Rayner’s allies rebuke Cleverly over council tax criticisms
Angela Rayner’s allies have hit back at James Cleverly, accusing the shadow housing secretary of having “some brass neck” for criticising the deputy prime minister over her council tax arrangements on a property she bought this year.Rayner acquired the seaside flat in Hove, East Sussex, for more than £700,000.The property is subject to the 100% council tax premium on second homes that was introduced in April, which she now pays in full.The Tories, including Cleverly, have accused the deputy prime minister of hypocrisy, pointing to her role in pushing through those tax rules and demanding clarity over whether she had been paying the premium and whether she claimed a single-person discount on her Admiralty House flat, the property that came with her ministerial position at the beginning of this year.Cleverly said: “She has admitted to paying the premium on her flat but she refuses to say whether she has been paying the second-homes premium on Admiralty House since it came into force in April.
”But a Labour source dismissed Cleverly’s criticism as political opportunism and called out his own record as a landlord.“James Cleverly has some brass neck,” a Labour source said.“Unlike him, Angela has never been a landlord or owned a property in London.“The second homes premium was introduced by the Tory government while James Cleverly was home secretary, and he supported it at every stage.Angela takes her council tax obligations seriously and she meets them in full.
”A source close to Rayner said her housing arrangements reflected her job demands, not tax avoidance,They said the nature of her role meant she had often had to be in and around London for over a decade, but she had always rented a flat for that purpose, adding that she had actually ended the lease on her privately rented flat in London some months ago,Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, also weighed in to the attacks on Rayner, telling LBC: “I’ve got no issue with her doing well for herself at all,I think there are questions around hypocrisy at the moment, when she’s changing some of the tax measures around second home ownership and questions as to where she is delineating as her primary residence,”Some of Rayner’s allies found Holden’s intervention notable given his previous clashes with Rayner over her personal tax affairs, including his repeated calls for her to clarify historic capital gains tax payments.
It has been pointed out by some privately that Holden voted for the measures allowing councils to double tax on second homes, under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act, introduced by the Conservatives last year.Those rules were brought in to force by Rayner’s department in April.A Labour spokesperson defended the policy, saying: “We said we would introduce new powers for local communities and we have.That’s why councils can opt to add up to 100% to the council tax bills of second homes to help local leaders improve the sustainability of communities.“We are getting Britain building again after years of failure, pushing a planning bill through in the face of opposition from unelected Lords and landlords.
“We are not in the business of restricting people’s ability to own property, but we’re clear that rights come with responsibilities.”The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.Secure Messaging in the Guardian appThe Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs.
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‘Wall of blowing dust’ sweeps through Burning Man festival and upends camps
Burning Man festival temporarily ground to a halt over the weekend due to dust storms and high winds that sent tents flying and plunged visibility to near zero.On Monday, organizers of the Nevada festival said the Black Rock City airport and the festival gates had reopened as the festival officially got under way.According to San Francisco Chronicle, a powerful dust storm swept through the Black Rock Desert – where the annual event is held – on Saturday evening, damaging campsites, causing travel delays and resulting in at least four minor injuries.The National Weather Service issued a dust storm advisory for the area that evening, warning of a “wall of blowing dust” moving northward at 30mph (48km/h), with strong wind gusts “in excess of 45mph”.One attendee told the Chronicle they saw tents and structures “being ripped and torn down by the wind speeds even though we buttoned everything down as best as we could”
Noel Clarke libel case: a resounding victory for the Guardian, women and the law | Letters
While I wholeheartedly agree that the Guardian deserves credit for defending the Noel Clarke libel case, Katharine Viner misses a vital component in her conclusion (The Noel Clarke judgment is a victory for the brave women who told us their stories – and for journalism, 22 August).Yes it was a “good day for the Guardian, for media in the public interest, and for women” – but it was also a good day for the judiciary. Without confidence in the integrity of our court system, the risks of pursuing the case to a conclusion may well have been stacked against you. Mrs Justice Steyn gave a resounding condemnation of Clarke’s behaviour and upheld the accuracy of the stories published. Well done her, the Guardian and the women who bravely told their stories
‘The pope complained about the lyrics!’: the Bluebells and Siobhan Fahey on how they made Young at Heart
‘I had moved down from Glasgow and was sharing a council flat with the girls from Bananarama. We wrote the song after watching the Frank Sinatra film’I first glimpsed Siobhan Fahey at my publisher’s offices. Later that day, when I was being interviewed by Smash Hits, I told the interviewer: “I really fancy Siobhan from Bananarama.” The next night, she was at our concert, at the front. I remember saying to my bandmates Ken and Dave McCluskey: “I’m gonna get off with her
Can Netflix find your new favourite watch based on your star sign?
As you will already be aware, one of the downsides of the streaming era is decision paralysis. In times gone by, people would watch television by simply turning their television on, watching whatever was showing at that precise moment and then complaining about it. But now, as you find yourself forced to pick from every single film and series ever made, you feel overwhelmed. You spend entire evenings scrolling through submenu after submenu, glazing over as your inability to find something to watch ossifies into dissociative panic.The challenge for the streamers is how to effectively curate this infinite content
Spinal Tap II, Julia Roberts and Paul Thomas Anderson: the best films of autumn 2025
Comic book author and novelist Charlie Huston adapts his own cult bestseller of the same title, Darren Aronofsky directs – and this comedy certainly signals a shift in tone after his last movie, body-image tragedy The Whale. Austin Butler stars as ex-baseball-player Hank Thompson who gets mixed up in the seedy underbelly of crime in 90s New York. 29 AugustBenedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman star in this new version of the acrid satire of marital breakdown last filmed in 1989 as The War of the Roses with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner and audiences will be keen to see if this new movie matches its predecessor’s devastating final shot. Certainly Cumberbatch and Colman look like an A-lister clash. 29 AugustAn amazing return to form for the Belgian veteran masters of classic social-realism the Dardenne brothers
KPop Demon Hunters: everyone is talking about it at school and on social media, but … what is it?
OK, so what actually is KPop Demon Hunters? I’ve heard it mentioned by parents at school, by kids and randomly on social media but I am too lazy to Google it. Also, Google is terrible now.It’s been touted by Netflix as the platform’s most-watched original animated film ever. It tells the story of three hunters who use music’s power to move and connect hearts to create a barrier – the “golden Honmoon” – that will keep the forces of evil demons at bay. But probably just as importantly, it has everything: characters that grow, gorgeous animated visuals and a soundtrack I’ve been playing on repeat
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