The row over Angela Rayner's housing arrangements is of personal interest to me as I am in the process of downsizing to a retirement apartment with my new wife.
I had thought that I could rely on the local solicitors who are doing the conveyancing to tell me how much stamp duty I owe (incidentally a transaction tax that doesn't encourage freeing up larger houses).
But now it appears that I can't rely on them giving me the right figure and I might have to engage learned counsel which will involve expense and delay.
Otherwise I might find myself subject to a surcharge. On the other hand, I don't suppose I'll be vilified in the local paper or have 'tax evader' scrawled outside my house.
The stamp duty regulations are more complex than they first appear and Angela Rayner has been foolish given that she knows there are people waiting to get her.
However, I really don't understand the apparently widely held view that the country is best run by people who have gone to Eton (Johnson) or another fee-paying school (Farage). Over 90 per cent of us went to state education.
Angela Rayner clearly annoys some people because she is a woman from a council estate who left school at 16 and became deputy prime minister. Her presence in government balances the less performative persona of Starmer.
So if she goes it will be a win for the Conservatives (and weasel Chris Mason with his lose-lose scenario). I'm not sure it will keep Badenoch in post to the next election, though.
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