Rachel Reeves’ younger sister has become the latest casualty of Sir Keir Starmer’s frantic government relaunch as he swung the axe through his junior ministerial ranks.
The Prime Minister has endured a tumultuous 24 hours in the wake of Angela Rayner’s exit.
She departed as Deputy PM, Housing Secretary and Labour’s deputy leader after her tearful admission that she didn’t pay enough tax on the purchase of a new flat.
On Saturday, Starmer turned his attention to the lower rungs of his administration following a huge Cabinet shake-up on Friday – with Ellie Reeves announced as the latest to come into the crosshairs.
The 44-year-old has been removed as minister without portfolio and chairman of the Labour Party, with Anna Turley, previously a whip, moving into those roles, The Telegraph reported.
Ms Reeves has instead been appointed Solicitor General, the deputy to Attorney General Lord Hermer, and will not be required to attend Cabinet.
She will also continue her constituency work as MP for Lewisham West and East Dulwich, a seat she has held since 2017.
Insiders claim the removal of Ms Reeves will come as a blow to her sister, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, ahead of delivering the Budget in October.
Sir Keir Starmer has swung the axe through his junior ministerial ranks as he frantically tries to get his Government back on track with an extensive reshuffle
Ellie Reeves, sister of Chancellor Rachel Reeves, has been removed as minister without portfolio and chairman of the Labour Party
Insiders claim the removal of Ms Reeves will come as a blow to her sister, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, ahead of delivering the Budget in October
Earlier this week, the Chancellor lost her deputy, Darren Jones, who was shuffled over to No 10 to become Starmer’s chief secretary.
The Prime Minister has also appointed two other economic experts, amid rumblings from Ms Reeves’ allies that her authority is being undermined.
His latest shake-up comes following Yvette Cooper’s move from Home Secretary to Foreign Secretary on Friday and a swathe of changes among his Home Office ministers this afternoon.
Dame Angela Eagle and Dame Diana Johnson both joined Ms Cooper in being shuffled from the Home Office to other Whitehall departments amid a summer of Channel migrant crossings and protests outside asylum hotels.
Meanwhile, the PM axed Daniel Zeichner completely from the Government’s ranks.
He was previously the farming minister who has faced fury over Labour’s controversial changes to inheritance tax.
In an eye-catching appointment Sir Keir handed a peerage to businessman Jason Stockwood in order for him to become his new investment minister.
In May, Mr Stockwood – the joint owner of Grimsby Town football club – was unsuccessful as Labour’s candidate to be Greater Lincolnshire mayor.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (left) with her sister, Ellie, who has this afternoon been shuffled away from her Cabinet role
Ms Cooper was shifted from the key job of Home Secretary following a grim summer of protests over small boats and migrant hotels – to be replaced by harder-line Ms Mahmood
Angela Rayner has departed as Deputy PM, Housing Secretary and Labour’s deputy leader after her tearful admission that she didn’t pay enough tax on the purchase of a new flat
That contest that was won by Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns.
Ex-investment minister Poppy Gustaffson and former local government minister Jim McMahon have also left Government, Downing Street confirmed on Saturday.
Justin Madders left his position as a business minister and returned to the back benches in the House of Commons.
Maria Eagle, the twin sister of Dame Angela, and Catherine McKinnell also left the Government.
In Friday’s Cabinet moves, Ms Cooper was replaced by Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary.
David Lammy was demoted from Foreign Secretary to take over from Ms Mahmood at the Ministry of Justice, but he was given the consolation prize of Ms Rayner’s old Deputy PM title.
A swathe of other senior ministers switched briefs as Sir Keir tried to rewire his team – although only two new names were added to the Cabinet.
The PM’s enforcer Darren Jones toured broadcast studios this morning insisting that it was ‘normal’ for governments to have a shake-up at this stage.
Jason Stockwood (right), the joint owner of Grimsby Town football club, has been appointed as Sir Keir’s new investment minister
Diana Johnson (left) and Angele Eagle (right) both joined Yvette Cooper in being shuffled from the Home Office to other Whitehall departments
The PM axed Daniel Zeichner from the Government’s ranks completely. He was previously the farming minister who has faced fury over Labour’s controversial changes to inheritance tax.
However, ex-Cabinet minister Lord Falconer, a long-time supporter of the premier, said Sir Keir knew he had to apply an ‘electric charge’ rather than simply making tweaks.
‘The reason it was much wider… was because there was a profound understanding by the PM that things need to change and they need to change urgently,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘You cannot avoid the proposition that we have not connected appropriately with the public.’
The Labour peer pointed to Nigel Farage’s claim at Reform’s conference in Birmingham yesterday that the PM could be forced to call a general election by 2027.
‘I don’t think that’s right, but if we haven’t got a sense of direction that connects quite quickly then we are in problems I think,’ Lord Falconer said.
The extraordinary scale of the changes sent Westminster into shock, after briefing that there would only be limited tweaks below Cabinet level this month.
Rachel Reeves was among just a handful of senior ministers to cling on to their roles, despite the Chancellor facing a welter of criticism over the stalling economy and fears the country is heading for a debt crisis.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden will now head up a ‘super-ministry’ including the DWP and skills responsibilities, which are being stripped from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has given up his brief to Peter Kyle, becoming chief whip instead.
Steve Reed goes from Environment to succeed Ms Rayner as Housing Secretary – with Emma Reynolds replacing him.
She and Douglas Alexander – who becomes Scottish Secretary – were the only new entrants to the Cabinet.
Asked whether the reshuffle was a sign of instability, Mr Jones told BBC Breakfast: ‘Look, I think it’s quite normal for governments to have a reshuffle about this time coming into government.’
He added: ‘Because of the former deputy prime minister’s resignation, the Prime Minister decided it was the decisive thing to do, to bring (the reshuffle) forward and to get it done on Friday, then to be able to move forward with the strongest team that we have around the Cabinet now leading on delivering the public’s priorities.’
Standards watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus concluded that Ms Rayner had tried to act with ‘integrity’ but still fell short of the standards required in government, failing to pay tens of thousands of pounds of stamp duty on her new seaside flat.
In May, Mr Stockwood was unsuccessful as Labour’s candidate to be Greater Lincolnshire mayor
David Lammy was axed as Foreign Secretary to take over from Shabana Mahmood at the Ministry of Justice, but he was given the prize of Angela Rayner’s old Deputy PM title
In a letter to Sir Keir, Ms Rayner stressed the ‘strain’ that the furore had put on her family. She said she ‘deeply regretted’ not having sought expert tax advice about the implications of a trust – even though she had received an explicit recommendation to do so.
Ms Rayner quit her posts of Deputy PM, Housing Secretary and deputy Labour leader. There is now expected to be a potentially divisive election for the last role.
Downing Street released a handwritten response from the premier saying he was ‘sad’ about the circumstances because Ms Rayner had ‘given her all’, but it was the ‘right decision’.
The Government has made some ‘considerable missteps’ and it must acknowledge this, Labour MP Andy McDonald said.
Mr McDonald said the new Cabinet needs to re-focus on serious issues without being drawn into solely responding to the threat of Reform.
People are not ‘looking at a Labour government thinking this is a Government that is delivering for them,’ he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘[The public] want to see that improvement in their material living conditions,’ he added.
‘There’s been some considerable missteps, and we’ve got to acknowledge that.’
Ms Mahmood will now take charge of the critical Home Affairs brief, which could decide Labour’s fate
Kemi Badenoch said Labour appeared to be descending into ‘civil war’.
The Conservative leader added: ‘Phase two of Starmer’s Government didn’t even last three days.
‘He was too weak to fire the Deputy Prime Minister, even after he was told she broke the ministerial code, and now he’s shuffling deckchairs around on his sinking government.
‘The Labour Party is now engaged in a civil war for its deputy leadership. All of which will be an enormous distraction from the problems facing Britain, with the cost of borrowing reaching its highest point in decades, and inflation and unemployment rising.’
The PM’s enforcer Darren Jones toured broadcast studios this morning insisting that it was ‘normal’ for governments to have a shake-up at this stage
Former Tory Cabinet minister Sir James Cleverly added: ‘There are so many sideways moves in this reshuffle. Starmer can’t claim it’s about promoting new talent, or about removing dead wood.
‘So it can only be that he put people into the wrong jobs last year.’
Nigel Farage said Labour was now ‘deep in crisis’ and ‘not fit to govern’.
He added: ‘Despite all the promises that this would be a new, different kind of politics is as bad – if not worse – than the one that went before.’
