Nigel Farage has delivered his verdict on a row surrounding Angela Rayner's decision to buy a second home on the Sussex coast for almost £800,000.
The Reform UK leader appeared to put up a surprising defence of the Deputy Prime Minister by criticising top Tories over their reaction to her growing property portfolio.
Despite Ms Rayner just last week accusing Mr Farage of "failing young women" by opposing the Online Safety Act, the Clacton MP instead swiped at Shadow Housing Secretary James Cleverly.
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Speaking at a press conference in Oxfordshire, the Reform UK leader said: "Isn't it funny that the residence that Angela Rayner is living in in London is now coming under criticism from James Cleverly?
"He wasn't complaining when Michael Gove was living there.
"So, it's just party politics. If Angela Rayner had been tremendously successful in business and managed to acquire a property portfolio and done it properly, then jolly good luck to her.
"This whole sort of hair shirt approach, most of the press want politicians in sackcloth and ashes, would like all of us to vegan and give up drinking. Well, it's not happening here."
Ms Rayner owns a property in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne, which was purchased for £375,000 in 2016 and is now valued at £650,000.
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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage alongside Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner
|PA
However, Ms Rayner has now added an almost £800,000 property in the Sussex seaside town of Hove, being spotted by neighbours alongside ex-Labour MP Sam Tarry.
The Deputy Prime Minister is also given a grace-and-favour apartment at Admiralty House in London.
Mr Cleverly led the Conservative charge against the Deputy Prime Minister over her alleged second-home hypocrisy.
"Angela Rayner is responsible for housing policy, yet she won't even be straight about her own," he said.
"Time and again she's been asked to declare exactly what properties she owns and where she pays council tax, and time and again she's dodged those questions.
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Admiralty House is being used by Angela Rayner as her grace-and-favour home
| PA"We've done everything possible to get answers, but she still refuses to come clean.
"That matters, because this is the same Deputy Prime Minister who's hiked taxes on family homes across the country.
"If she's not prepared to be open about her own affairs while taxing everyone else, the public will wonder what she has to hide."
However, Ms Rayner's decision to stay at Admiralty House comes after a number of high-profile Conservatives used the apartment during their stints in ministerial office.
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Ex-Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill used the property while serving as First Lord of the Admiralty between 1911 and 1915 and 1939 and 1940.
Former Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who lived at the property despite being the MP for Surrey Heath just 34 miles away, footed the bill at Carlton Gardens when he served in Cabinet.
Meanwhile, The Telegraph disclosed that taxpayers have been paying for Ms Rayner's stay at the Central London address, equating to around £2,034-a-year for the Grade-I listed property.
Ex-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who Ms Rayner once described as a "Labour legend" and personal inspiration, was separately forced to apologise and pay £3,852 of council tax due on the apartment because he had been using it as a primary residence in 2006.
MIGRANT CRISIS COVERAGE:
Angela Rayner is the Deputy Prime Minister | PAHowever, Mr Farage's press conference centred around Reform UK's plans to end Britain's Channel crossing crisis.
The Clacton MP suggested that a Reform Government could deport up to 600,000 migrants living illegally in the UK.
Appearing on stage alongside senior Reform UK figure Zia Yusuf, Farage said: “But do we realistically think, Zia, we can deport five, 600,000 people in the lifetime of the first Parliament?”
Mr Yusuf, who has been crunching the numbers ahead of Reform's deportation announcement, replied: "Totally."