It seems Angela Rayner is in hot water again. The Labour deputy leader might have thought she had escaped unscathed from claims about the sale of her ex-council house. But Greater Manchester Police (GMP) now says it is reassessing its previous decision not to investigate allegations that she gave false information on official documents, in a potential breach of electoral law. A sub-optimal start for Labour’s local election campaign today…

For her part, Rayner continues to protest her innocence. She insists that the row is ‘manufactured’ in an attempt to ‘smear’ her. She told Newsnight last week that there had been ‘no wrongdoing’ and “no unlawfulness’, adding: ‘I’ve been very clear there’s no rules broken.’ Yet, as Nick Robinson pointed out to Angela Rayner on Radio 4 this morning, she would not stand for such excuses if she happened to be a Tory.

Mr S can’t help wondering whether Rayner’s problems partly stem from the fact that – much like Ed Davey and the postmasters – she has spent much of this parliament demanding awfully high standards of others. For much of the past four years, she has served as Labour’s attack dog, rarely missing a chance to go for a Conservative at the slightest hint of impropriety.

Take, for instance, the row over Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs in January last year. Back then, Labour were quick fire off a letter to HMRC, arguing that the ‘public requires answers.’ Who penned that letter? None other than Angela Rayner, who declared that ‘Given the public interest in this case as well as the serious questions raised about a potential conflict of interest at the heart of government, the public require answers.’ Surely there’s a similar public interest here?

Rayner also stuck the boot into Zahawi for dodging the media during that row. She told BBC Breakfast in January 2023 that ‘The fact that Nadhim hasn’t been out on the airwaves explaining himself, to me, adds insult to injury, especially given that he called this smears at the time.’ So it’s ironic then that she appears to have only done two broadcast interviews in the past eight weeks: Newsnight and Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. Why wasn’t she out on the airwaves explaining herself?

Or how about partygate, when Rayner was again quick to demand resignations. Even before the Metropolitan Police opened its investigation into Boris Johnson’s Downing Street team, she was out on the airwaves in early January 2022. ‘Nobody is above the law in this country’ she said. After the Metropolitan Police subsequently began that investigation, she tweeted a call for Johnson to resign on 25 January 2022:

Boris Johnson’s Downing Street is under police investigation, how on earth can he think he can stay on as Prime Minister?

If Greater Manchester Police do decide, upon completing its re-assessment of the case, to open a formal investigation into Angela Rayner, will she be following her own advice to resign? Don’t hold your breath…