Angela Rayner is tonight facing the prospect of a sleaze probe into her controversial property dealings.

The Conservative Party formally requested an investigation to determine if the Deputy Prime Minister violated the ministerial code when purchasing an £800,000 secondary residence.

This follows public outrage over allegations that Ms. Rayner avoided £40,000 in stamp duty by declaring the Hove luxury property as her primary residence to tax authorities, while simultaneously informing the Cabinet Office that her main home was located 260 miles away in Greater Manchester. During weekdays, she resided in a lavish taxpayer-funded grace and favour apartment in central London.

Ms Rayner is thought to have paid around £30,000 in stamp duty on the Hove apartment. 

If the property had been deemed a secondary residence, she would have incurred a £70,000 tax, due to a stringent tax regime aimed at discouraging holiday home acquisitions, which Rachel Reeves expanded last year.

A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister last night said she had paid her taxes in full and done nothing wrong. 

According to friends, Ms. Rayner sold her share of the Greater Manchester property where she previously lived with her former husband and children, prior to acquiring the Hove property, and now possesses only this one home.

However questions remain about how she funded the expensive apartment in Hove, where she is actually living and where she should pay council tax.

Angela Rayner (picured) is facing the prospect of a sleaze probe into her controversial property dealings

The Conservatives have requested an investigation into whether the ministerial code was breached in the Deputy Prime Minister’s acquisition of an £800,000 secondary residence (as seen in the picture of the lavish property’s living room).

Ms. Rayner reportedly saved £40,000 in stamp duty by declaring the luxury property in Hove (shown above) as her primary home, while asserting to the Cabinet Office that her main residence was her family home in Greater Manchester, 260 miles away.

Questions remain about how she funded the expensive apartment in Hove, where she is actually living and where she should pay council tax (Ms Rayner is seen above drinking wine on Hove beach)

Former Tory Cabinet minister Dame Priti Patel branded Ms Rayner ‘a hypocrite and a freeloader’, adding: ‘She wants everyone else to pay higher taxes on family homes but doesn’t want to pay it herself.’

In a letter to the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial interests Sir Laurie Magnus, the Conservatives called for an inquiry into whether Ms Rayner had broken the ministerial code.

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Ms Rayner of making ‘contradictory’ statements about where she is living, adding: ‘This may be lawful but it is inappropriate tax avoidance for a minister subject to higher standards of conduct’.

The Prime Minister is the ultimate arbiter of the Ministerial Code. Sir Laurie is able to instigate his own investigations where he believes there is evidence of a potential breach of the rules.

But it would be for Sir Keir to decide on what to do about the findings of any investigation. 

Traditionally, ministers found to have breached the code have been expected to resign, but it is no longer always the case and remains at the discretion of the PM.

Mr Hollinrake told the Mail that Ms Rayner was guilty of ‘hypocrisy of the highest order’.

‘While Angela Rayner tours the country demanding honesty and accountability from others, she refuses to come clean about her own conduct,’ he said.

Former Tory Cabinet minister Dame Priti Patel (pictured) branded Ms Rayner ‘a hypocrite and a freeloader’

It would be for Sir Keir Starmer (left) to decide on what to do about the findings of any investigation into Ms Rayner (right)

‘She simply cannot go on dodging and deflecting. Serious concerns remain about her tax affairs, which is why the Conservatives have written to Sir Laurie Magnus to request a full investigation into her behaviour and possible breaches of the Ministerial Code.

‘Anything short of full transparency will only confirm what the public already suspect: that for Labour it’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.’

In a brief statement last night, a spokesman for Ms Rayner said: ‘The Deputy Prime Minister paid the relevant duty owing on the purchase of the Hove property in line with relevant requirements and entirely properly, any suggestion otherwise is entirely without basis.’

Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer retained ‘full confidence’ in his deputy.

The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Ms Rayner removed her name from the deeds of the home in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency in Tameside, Greater Manchester, shortly before purchasing the property in Hove, close to where the family of her on-off boyfriend Sam Tarry lives.

It is now understood that she has sold her stake in the Ashton property as part of a divorce settlement with her ex-husband Mark, who still lives there with the couple’s children. She continues to designate it as her ‘primary residence’ for council tax purposes.

The taxpayer pays her council tax at her three-bedroom grace and favour apartment in Admiralty House. She pays a punitive double rate of council tax in Hove, after telling the local authority it is her second home.

The Conservatives have called for her to be struck off the electoral roll in her constituency as she no longer lives there. 

Ms Rayner bought her constituency home (pictured) in Ashton-under-Lyne in 2016 for £375,000, although it is now believed to have risen in value to £650,000 

At the end of last year, Ms Rayner moved into a three-bedroom grace-and-favour flat in Admiralty House (pictured) – which used to be home to Winston Churchill

Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer retained ‘full confidence’ in his deputy (pictured) – but the Conservatives have called for Ms Rayner to be struck off the electoral roll in her constituency as she no longer lives there

In his letter to Sir Laurie, Mr Hollinrake says her arrangements breach clear regulations in the Ministerial Code, which requires ministers living in grace and favour accommodation to ‘ensure that all personal tax liabilities, including any council tax, are properly discharged and that they personally pay such liabilities’.

He said that ‘at the very least’ she should be booted out of Admiralty House.

The controversy is embarrassing for Ms Rayner who spent years railing against wealthy ‘tax dodgers’ and promising to clean up ‘Tory sleaze’.

It is also awkward for the minister in charge of tackling the chronic housing shortage to find herself dubbed ‘three pads Rayner’.

Many Labour MPs rallied round her yesterday in the face of Conservative attacks.

Health minister Stephen Kinnock said she had followed ‘the letter of the law’.

But some Labour figures voiced unease and urged her to come clean about her arrangements.

Lord McConnell, the former first minister of Scotland and Scottish Labour leader said it was ‘really important that she is very transparent about this issue’.

Health minister Stephen Kinnock (pictured) said Ms Rayner had followed ‘the letter of the law’ as he rallied round the Deputy PM

‘There’s many, many positives with Angela but if she allows the perception to develop that she is part of the one rule for them, one rule for us problem with politicians in the public, then she’s going to have a problem,’ he told Times Radio.

He added: ‘My advice to her would be to get all the details, don’t hide behind privacy rules and everything else… Reassure people that you’ve done the right thing. Be very transparent and then get back to the day job and get out there and build some houses.’

Property expert Kirstie Allsopp, who presents TV’s Location, Location, Location, posted on social media: ‘This Government have NO shame, they imposed taxes on the rest of us but find ways not to pay them themselves.’

The row comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised surcharge rates on stamp duty for second home owners last October – an initiative originally introduced by the Conservatives in 2016. 

The move means that second home purchasers now pay a punitive 10 per cent rate on the value of a property between £250,000 and £900,000 – double the normal rate.

The change is designed to discourage second home purchases and free up more property to help ease the housing crisis. 

Ms Rayner’s department has warned against the impact of second homes in pricing others out of the housing market.