Angela Rayner faced criticism for allegedly misusing public funds when her publicly-funded bodyguards transported her partner in an £80,000 vehicle and assisted in shifting items to her secondary residence.

Photos exclusively shared by the Mail on Sunday depict two protection officers aiding Ms. Rayner’s intermittent partner, Sam Tarry, in moving bags and boxes using a BMW X5 between their two homes.

These skilled security professionals and their dedicated SUV, funded by taxpayer money, are intended to provide Ms. Rayner with protection, which incurs a cost of thousands of pounds daily.

However, the former Deputy Prime Minister was absent when the bodyguards transported Mr. Tarry and multiple boxes from her £800,000 seafront apartment in Hove, East Sussex to his £450,000 apartment in Brighton, a mere three miles away.

The bodyguards then loaded the car up with bags taken from Mr Tarry’s home and whisked them back to Ms Rayner’s flat.

A spokesperson for Ms. Rayner stated that the protection officers assisted Mr. Tarry in moving ‘a small number’ of the former Cabinet minister’s belongings and suggested that they might have deemed it necessary for security purposes.

Last month, Ms. Rayner, 45, dramatically stepped down from Keir Starmer’s Cabinet after a sleaze watchdog concluded she violated the Ministerial Code by underpaying approximately £40,000 in stamp duty on the three-bedroom apartment, located roughly 250 miles from her Greater Manchester constituency.

But she now faces questions over why bodyguards on the public payroll were apparently being used to help with her domestic arrangements last week.

Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty said: ‘Highly trained close-protection officers shouldn’t be moonlighting as removal men.

‘The public will be astonished at this outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money and appalled at such shameless behaviour.

‘Angela Rayner’s arrogance has already cost her her ministerial career. Her sense of entitlement shows calls by senior Labour figures last week to bring her back are very poorly judged.’

Richard Tice MP, deputy leader of Reform UK, said: ‘Rayner’s Removals shouldn’t be funded by the taxpayer.’

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, added: ‘It’s right that politicians in need of security are provided with it. But with that comes a responsibility not to abuse that system.

‘Given the details of this story, it’s clear there needs to be an investigation to check that no rules were broken.’

A female close protection officer, who the MoS is not naming, was spotted carrying several empty boxes out of Ms Rayner’s home and into the waiting BMW at 11.38am on Thursday.

Forty-five minutes later Mr Tarry, 43, and the bodyguard got into the vehicle and drove to his home, about 15 minutes away.

‘The female bodyguard came out of Angela’s flat and carried the boxes out to the BMW,’ an onlooker said. ‘It went around the block for a bit and then came back to pick up a man. It was all very cloak-and-dagger.’

In Brighton, Mr Tarry, the woman and a second taxpayer-funded bodyguard, a man, unloaded the boxes before loading the car up again with bags brought from Mr Tarry’s house. The BMW was later believed to have returned to Ms Rayner’s flat.

A day later the same two bodyguards flanked Ms Rayner as she attended a vigil in Manchester for victims of the terror attack at the Heaton Park synagogue.

Despite no longer being a Government Minister, Ms Rayner has retained close protection officers because of the security risk she faces. Graffiti calling her a ‘tax evader’ and a ‘b****’ appeared on a white wall outside her Hove property.

The MoS understands the guards are provided by private firm Mitie Security and paid from a security fund administered by Parliamentary authorities.

Security experts say specialised close-protection officers can each cost around £1,500 per day.

A spokesman for Ms Rayner said: ‘Angela has a heightened and active security risk, and her property in Hove has been attacked with misogynistic and extremist graffiti.

‘Mindful of the ongoing risks facing Angela, the security team facilitated her partner moving a small number of her possessions into a vehicle to minimise risk to her security.

‘The close-protection team may undertake tasks based on the assessment of the situation and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the person they are protecting.’

The MoS has established that the female bodyguard is a former soldier in the British Army who last year worked as a security consultant for the Labour Party.

She was regularly photographed accompanying Ms Rayner before her resignation on September 5.

Mitie, which employs around 100 close protection officers who guard Government ministers and other VIPs, declined to comment and referred enquiries to the House of Commons.

A Commons spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individual MPs’ security arrangements.’

Mr Tarry, a former Labour MP, began a relationship with Ms Rayner in 2022 following her divorce from union boss Mark Rayner. Tarry had split from his wife of five years, Brighton paediatrician Julia Fozard, mother to their two young boys.

The former MP for Ilford South was sacked from his role as Shadow Transport Minister in July 2022 by Sir Keir Starmer after giving an unauthorised interview from a picket line. He now works as a lobbyist.

Ms Rayner made their relationship official in March by declaring Mr Tarry her partner in the Register of Ministers’ Interests.

In August the MoS revealed that Ms Rayner – who was also Housing Secretary – had bought the Hove flat in May, when her department was cracking down on second-home owners.

It later emerged that she told HM Revenue and Customs that the house was her main residence, meaning she avoided a hefty surcharge normally applied on second homes.

She quit the Government last month after Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s ethics adviser, said she had breached the Ministerial Code because she had failed to meet the ‘highest possible standards of proper conduct’ over the issue.

After leaving the Cabinet she lost her grace-and-favour flat in Admiralty House, Central London, while her annual salary dropped from £161,409 to £93,904, leading to speculation that she might be forced to sell the Hove apartment.

Ms Rayner has kept a low profile since her resignation and was absent from last week’s Labour conference in Liverpool, where rumours swirled that she would return to the Government. Health Secretary Wes Streeting told delegates: ‘We want her back.’