Angela Rayner ‘looked like someone who knew she’d done wrong’ before resignation

The firebrand Labour MP handed her resignation to Keir Starmer after admitting she had underpaid stamp duty on the £800,000 flat she recently bought in the well-to-do seaside neighbourhood of Hove

A body language expert has said Angela Rayner “looked like someone who knew she did wrong” in the week before her resignation.

The firebrand Labour MP stepped down as deputy prime minister and housing secretary today after admitting to underpaying enough tax on her £800,000 Hove flat.

There will also be an election for a new deputy leader of the Labour Party, as she also stepped back from this role. Rayner referred herself to the PM’s ethics adviser earlier this week after confirming she would have to pay more of the property tax.

She incorrectly paid the lower rate on the flash apartment in Hove, she said. Experts have said the bill could run to as much as an extra £40,000.

Ethics watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus said Angela Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service” but concluded she breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.

Now, body language expert Joanne Pearson of Private Investigations UK told the Daily Star that Rayner’s resignation “followed weeks of visible strain”.

Comparing Rayner’s public image to earlier appearances, Pearson said: “Holiday photos of Angela Rayner taken earlier this summer showed her looking relaxed – shoulders back, head held high, and open expressions.

“That’s classic confidence and ease. In stark contrast, her posture at Westminster in the past fortnight told a very different story. Her shoulders slumped forward, her head tilted down, and her movements became tighter and more restrained.”

The expert said Angela’s shift was obvious in three categories.

Her posture went from “upright and open” to “rounded and inward, signalling pressure” while her facial expressions went from “broad smiles on holiday to tightened lips and furrowed brows in Parliament”.

And her eye contact changed from being “direct and engaged” to “increasingly downward-cast as scrutiny mounted”, according to Ms Pearson.

She added: “Her body language showed the journey – from relaxed confidence earlier this year to the visible strain of the past week.

“By the time she quit, the signs were clear: she wasn’t fighting it. She looked like someone who knew she’d done wrong and was resigned to the outcome.”

Once news broke of Rayner’s departure, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Angela Rayner is finally gone. But it’s only because of Keir Starmer’s weakness that she wasn’t sacked three days ago. Britain deserves better.”

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