Tory ‘attack dog’ reheats failed ploy used against Starmer to go for Rayner

Back then, Richard Holden was an ambitious Tory backbencher, representing the seat of North West Durham, who spotted an opportunity to cause some trouble for the Labour leader and deflect attention from Boris Johnson after the Partygate scandal erupted.

The allegations over Rayner’s living arrangements in the 2010s and the sale of her former council house in Stockport first surfaced in mid-February in an unauthorised biography, Red Queen?, by the billionaire Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, which was serialised in the Mail on Sunday and pushed hard by Holden’s CCHQ operation.

On the day of Labour’s local election campaign launch on 28 March, Rayner said that she would not publish the “personal tax advice” she had received on the sale of her house unless her Tory critics did the same.

Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police, told BBC local radio on Tuesday that Rayner was under investigation on a number of counts.

The force has not publicly said what it is investigating, although reports suggest that a team of at least a dozen officers will examine tax matters and potential election law offences arising from Rayner’s electoral roll registration.

Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AFP/Getty ImagesBut they admit that while she knows public figures can legitimately be asked questions, and is a “tough and resilient” person who regularly gives Tory MPs as good as she gets, she is concerned about intrusion for her family’s sake.