Angela Rayner has been told she should "know better" after legally avoiding a stamp duty bill of £40,000 after buying a property in Hove.
Speaking to GB News, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society Alan Mendoza claimed the best outcome of the revelations would be an "inquiry" into the Deputy Prime Minister.
Ms Rayner has admitted to removing herself from the deeds of her family home in Ashton-under-Lyne before buying a seaside flat for almost £800,000.
Following the backlash towards the Housing Secretary, Ms Rayner still insists that her old home remains her primary residence.
Alan Mendoza has declared Angela Rayner 'should know better' after legally avoiding a £40,000 stamp duty charge
|PA / GB NEWS
Delivering his verdict on the latest move by Ms Rayner, Mr Mendoza told GB News: "The polling isn't looking good, and if she was really serious about trying to preserve her political career and wasn't up for the fight, then yes, you might well be thinking where might be another place I could demonstrate a local connection to.
"Hove looks lovely, maybe she can lay down roots there, but of course the sitting MP would have to move out the way I'd imagine, and many other obstacles are taken."
Suggesting that the best solution to the controversy is an "inquiry", he added: "It's amazing that has lasted for a week, this story has gone on and on and on.
"And the longer it goes on, the more you just start to feel that the best result would be an inquiry that looks into this and puts it to bed one way or the other."
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Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is potentially facing an ethics investigation | PAAs host Dawn Neesom questioned the "hypocrisy" of the situation, Mr Mendoza agreed, explaining: "Yes, it's a particularly odd stance isn't it, to demand inquiries into other people for what they have allegedly done.
"And then to take advantage, it would seem, of similar schemes, if you're going to phrase it that way, and then take umbrage at the idea that you might also be investigated."
Suggesting high-profile politicians aren't aware of the "impact" of the things they do, Mr Mendoza continued: "It kind of makes you think what she thought she was doing by trying to get away with it.
"It does always surprise you that politicians don't understand perhaps the public relations impact of things they do, particularly if you're in a Government which looks likely, by all accounts, to put swingeing property taxes on people at the next Budget."
Mr Mendoza told GB News that Ms Rayner's actions are a 'particularly odd stance'
|GB NEWS
Highlighting the poor appearance this gives Ms Rayner and the Labour Party, Mr Mendoza concluded: "It makes it even more confusing, because does she have information of what's coming into the budget?
"Is she acting in advance of that, and is that a move that makes people think there's something dodgy going on? The appearance is bad, and I think in politics the appearance is almost as bad as actuality in this regard. And as an experienced politician, she should know better."
A spokesman for Angela 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."