By Andrew Marr

Angela Rayner was always going to go. Once Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that the legal advice she had relied on was wrong, her position as Deputy Prime Minister became impossible.

She had tried to do the right thing, sought advice in good faith, and been failed by it. In the Westminster system, that doesn’t matter.

She was finished. There is, at least, no rancour.

Both her letter and Keir Starmer’s reply were unusually generous.

Nobody I know at Westminster thinks Rayner is corrupt or wicked. It is simply a sad business. But let’s not mistake the personal for the political. This isn’t just about losing a senior minister. Rayner was also deputy leader of the Labour Party — and that is where the real danger lies.

If a contest for deputy leader now follows, Starmer could lose control of the party. Think about it: what if a soft-left figure, perhaps........

© LBC