Angela Rayner has said she never considered leaving frontline politics during an investigation into her tax affairs last year, saying that nursing her prematurely born son back to health in 2008 gave her the strength to face any challenge.
Ms Rayner resigned as housing secretary, deputy prime minister, and deputy Labour Party leader in September 2025 amid a public outcry after the Prime Minister's ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over whether she had paid enough stamp duty when buying a home in Brighton.
She had referred herself to the standards watchdog for investigation after she admitted she had paid as much as £40,000 less surcharge than she should have done on the purchase in May.
HMRC cleared her of wrongdoing
HMRC later cleared her of wrongdoing, and she returned to Government as part of Andy Burnham's Cabinet to oversee housing once again.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror's Sense Check YouTube show, Ms Rayner said nursing her prematurely born son back to health in 2008 gave her the strength to face any challenge.
"When my son was born at 23 weeks I was told we need to switch the machine off because there's nothing more they can do for him," she said. "I came out with my son, against all odds. I banked every bit of luck that moment in my life."
"It puts it into perspective"
She continued: "And that's where I think, you know what, people go through things like that every single day and they struggle. So my struggle, when you look at it like that, it puts it into perspective."
"It gives you an anchor when you've been through hardship and you've been through things like that. It gives you a perspective – especially in the Westminster side of things," she added. "I've got a bad headline in the Daily Mail – it's OK, that's nothing."
Ms Rayner also described her appearance at last month's Labour conference as "really humbling", adding: "You could feel the love in the room."
