• Starmer reshuffles portfolios after his embattled deputy Rayner steps down over property tax scandal
• David Lammy named new deputy PM; Yvette Cooper moves to Foreign Office
• Ex-Columbia University president Shafik named PM’s chief economic adviser
LONDON: Faced by crises on multiple fronts, UK PM Keir Starmer overhauled his cabinet on Friday, picking David Lammy to replace his embattled deputy PM, and bringing in Shabana Mahmood to head the Home Office.
Former deputy PM Angela Rayner quit after an investigation found that she had breached the ministerial code, underpaying a property tax in the purchase of a flat in southern England.
Her departure prompted Starmer to carry out the first major cabinet reshuffle of his stuttering 14-month-old premiership.
The shake-up comes after Rayner’s resignation dealt the latest blow to Starmer’s flagging government that has lurched from one storm to another since he became prime minister in July last year.
It has been forced to U-turn on welfare reforms and fuel benefits for the elderly, while its failure to stop undocumented migrants arriving on small boats has bolstered support for Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage.
Lammy’s post as Britain’s top diplomat will be taken by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who will in turn be succeeded by Ms Mahmood, the BBC reported.
This means that for the first time, all three of the most senior and historically important cabinet positions will be held by women, as Rachel Reeves is the current chancellor of the Exchequer.
Others leaving key posts include leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell and Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray.
Meanwhile, economist Nemat Talaat Shafik has been named Starmer’s new chief economic adviser.
Baroness Shafik was previously the president of Columbia University, and was pushed out following fallout from the 2024 Gaza protests. She has also served as a deputy governor at the Bank of England.
Rayner’s troubles
Rayner’s resignation followed her self-referral to the independent adviser on ministerial standards.
She disclosed on Wednesday that she had underpaid stamp duty — a property tax — on an apartment following days of reports suggesting that she had saved thousands of pounds by removing her name from the deeds of another property.
After reviewing her case, Laurie Magnus wrote to the PM, saying that in his opinion, she had breached the ministerial code.
He pointed out that while the tax rules Rayner was dealing with are “complex”, the fact that she didn’t seek expert advice means that she did not meet the “highest possible standards of proper conduct”, as required by the Ministerial Code.
In her resignation, Rayner took full responsibility for the error. In response, Starmer said she had done the right thing.
Rayner had been tipped as a potential future Labour leader and has been a top target for political attacks by the opposition Conservatives and right-wing media.
Despite the circumstances of her exit, Starmer told her: “You will remain a major figure in our party”.
Shabana’s rise
Shabana Mahmood, the 44-year-old Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, has had a rapid rise. She becomes the second Home Secretary of Pakistani-origin, with Tory minister Sajid Javid being the first in 2018.
Born in Birmingham to parents with roots in Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, Mahmood often links her political outlook to her family’s migration story and the values she absorbed growing up around a corner shop in inner-city Birmingham.
In a New Statesman interview, she linked her parents’ politics to the party “that made them feel they had a stake in British society“, adding that her family “found opportunities in this country that would not have been available to us in the village that we hail from in Kashmir and then Pakistan.”
During her childhood she also lived for a period with her family in Taif, Saudi Arabia. She went on to study at the University of Oxford and graduated with a BA in Law, later working as a barrister.
Mahmood also became one of the UK’s first Muslim parliamentarians when she was elected in 2010 alongside other MPs.
She has spoken directly about representing Britain’s Pakistani communities.
“I…take pride in representing one of the biggest ethnic minority groups in the UK,” she told the British Pakistan Foundation in an interview, arguing that the government should work at the community levels.
She also rejected claims that Pakistanis do not hold British values, saying: “They respect the rule of law, they want to live in a democracy.”
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2025