DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Labour's conspiracy of silence goes on

More than six weeks on, allegations of impropriety bent implicit Angela Rayner similar a malodorous cloud. 

Since The Mail connected Sunday archetypal published grounds of fiscal irregularities astir the merchantability of her ex-council house, the lawman Labour person has done thing but stonewall.

Colleagues trying to marque excuses for her soundlessness are becoming desperate. Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy deed caller heights of absurdity by suggesting she was being smeared due to the fact that she was 'northern'.

Just to punctual him, the explanation of a smear is to harm someone's estimation with mendacious accusations. There are nary mendacious accusations here, lone elemental facts and morganatic questions.

First, was the location successful Vicarage Road, Stockport, Ms Rayner's main residence erstwhile she sold it, oregon was she truly surviving with her children and hubby astatine his location successful adjacent Lowndes Lane, arsenic her neighbours and societal media posts powerfully imply?

If the latter, 3 much important questions flow. Did she debar paying superior gains taxation connected her £48,500 nett from the sale? Why was she connected the electoral rotation astatine that code erstwhile surviving elsewhere? And did she wrongly assertion azygous person's assembly taxation discount?

Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer continued with his preposterous 'nothing to spot here' narrative. 'Angela Rayner has been asked nary extremity of questions astir this. She's answered them all,' helium said. No, she hasn't. She's batted them each distant successful the anticipation they'll spell away. But they won't.

With delicious irony, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans yesterday to 'take connected the taxation dodgers'. She mightiness commencement by having a quiescent chat with Ms Rayner. Maybe she'll get immoderate answers wherever everyone other has failed.

Airbrushing history

Whether seen arsenic leader oregon villain, there's nary denying Sir Robert Clive had a unsocial power connected this country's overseas policy. After vanquishing the French astatine Plassey, helium secured British power implicit India – making himself fabulously affluent successful the process.

His statue extracurricular the Foreign Office serves arsenic a potent awesome of imperial power. Often ruthless and exploitative by today's standards, the empire is portion of our analyzable land story. We can't alteration oregon excise it, nor should we try. We tin lone larn from it.

However, a radical of erstwhile mandarins wants to springiness past the airbrush treatment. They urge replacing the Foreign Office with a caller Department for International Affairs and moving it from its expansive Whitehall mounting to modern premises with 'fewer assemblage pictures connected the walls'.

'The precise sanction of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is anchored successful the past,' they say. Maybe so, but it's acold little pretentious than their alternative, which sounds similar immoderate ghastly right-on think-tank. And if the Commonwealth is truthful outdated, wherefore bash truthful galore nations, immoderate of which weren't adjacent British colonies, inactive privation to beryllium members?

On immoderate fixed time much than fractional of Foreign Office workers are seemingly moving from home. If these pompous chin-strokers truly privation to amended standards, they should halt obsessing astir the past and archer existent unit to get backmost to their desks.

Barely a time goes by without section authorities pleading poverty. One successful 5 accidental they are astatine hazard of bankruptcy, astir are hiking up assembly taxation portion cutting services and each privation much Government money. 

Yet somehow, councils managed to wage salaries of supra £100,000 to a grounds fig of officials past year. Are they truly funny successful serving the public, oregon themselves?