Angela Rayner is billing the taxpayer thousands of pounds for a ‘vanity photographer’ to boost her image.
The Mail can reveal the Deputy Prime Minister, who has been mired in controversy over freebies from Labour donors and could face a sleaze inquiry, has risked a fresh storm by appointing the personal photographer on a salary of £68,000.
Although Downing Street has employed photographers to record the Prime Minister for some years, Ms Rayner is the first deputy to be awarded her own. Simon Walker has been given the title of Chief Photographer to the Deputy PM and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Ms Rayner yesterday acknowledged that voters were ‘angry’ about revelations that she and other senior figures, including Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, have taken thousands of pounds’ worth of gifts, such as clothes, holidays and tickets, from wealthy donors.
She said donations had been ‘a feature of our politics for a very long time’, but insisted she had not broken any rules.
Angela Rayner chats with Simon Walker who has been given the title of Chief Photographer to the Deputy PM and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on August 27
Angela Rayner visits the Johnnie Walker Whisky Experience in Edinburgh last month. The photograph was taken by the new photographer Simon Walker
However, the Conservatives last night urged the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to investigate whether Ms Rayner breached Commons rules by failing to declare she had been joined by former Labour MP Sam Tarry when she took a break in a luxury Manhattan apartment owned by millionaire donor Lord Alli.
A Tory source said: ‘Are there any greater vanity projects than the Deputy Prime Minister with her thousands of pounds of free clothes, her luxury free holiday, and now her publicly paid photographer?’
The row came as:
Ms Rayner’s decision to appoint a personal photographer is her latest attempt to promote what she describes privately as ‘Brand Angela’.
Mr Walker, who previously worked for Rishi Sunak, will also take pictures for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government where she is secretary of state.
Sam Tarry (pictured in June 2022) flew out to join her for the festive stay in the 56th floor Manhattan apartment, with a gym, jacuzzi and pool
Sir Keir has received many more freebies than any other MP since becoming Labour leader, receiving £107,145-worth since 2019. Lord Alli (pictured) was the biggest donor, giving the equivalent of £39,122, including accommodation worth £20,437
His £68,000 salary is more than twice the national average.
It comes as Ms Rayner battles to avoid being marginalised in government.
Plans for a sprawling ‘office of the Deputy Prime Minister’ have been abandoned, and she has seen parts of her brief hived off to other ministers, with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds taking charge of employment rights.
She has also missed out in the race for a lavish grace-and-favour residence, with Downing Street choosing to allocate the 21-bedroom Dorneywood mansion in Buckinghamshire to Ms Reeves.
Yesterday, Ms Rayner insisted to the BBC: ‘I’m not being pushed out.’
Downing Street said on Friday that Sir Keir, Ms Rayner and Ms Reeves would not accept clothes in future.
Ms Rayner yesterday acknowledged that the public was ‘angry’ and ‘frustrated’ over the issue, but she could not have risen to prominence without financial support.
‘I was from a very working-class background,’ she said.
‘To stand as Deputy Leader as you say, to get that position, I had to accept donations in order for me to run that campaign, because it’s a very expensive way of doing our politics.’
She suggested the controversy was caused partly because she had been ‘over-transparent’ about the gifts she has received.
However, some Labour MPs are unhappy at the sight of senior figures accepting lavish gifts at a time when the Government is cutting winter fuel payments worth up to £300 and warning of further ‘painful’ decisions in next month’s Budget.
Labour MP Rachel Maskell said: ‘I have been sickened by revelations of ‘donations’.
‘It grates against the values of the Labour Party, created to fight for the needs of others, not self. Meanwhile, pensioners are having their winter fuel payments taken, risking going cold. I trust conference votes to change this.’
Official Downing Street photographers are a relatively recent phenomenon. David Cameron, who was the first to appoint one, had his paid for by the Conservative Party.
More recently, they have been funded by the taxpayer.
A spokesman for Ms Rayner’s Housing, Communities and Local Government department said: ‘Many government departments employ official photographers to share the work of the department and ministers with the public.
‘This is a civil service role and will be part of the department’s communications team.’
