Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is under fire after it emerged she has hired a £68,000 “vanity” photographer to follow her around. The Telegraph has the story.
Angela Rayner, grinning from ear to ear, stares into the camera as she slurps a whisky cocktail through a straw.
The snap, from a trip to the Johnnie Walker Experience in Edinburgh last month, was taken by the Deputy Prime Minister’s new “vanity” photographer.
It is one of more than a dozen public moments that have been captured by Simon Walker since she hired him on a reported salary of £68,000.
Ms. Rayner faces accusations of hypocrisy over the appointment, given her fierce criticism of Tory ministers’ use of Government photographers.
She has been quick to put Mr. Walker to work, taking him with her as she has travelled the length and breadth of the country on official trips.
One photo captures her clutching her departmental red folder and grinning into the camera as she leaves a meeting on workers’ rights.
In another she is more earnest, looking away from the lens as she talks to firefighters at the scene of a residential fire in Dagenham, east London, last month.
He has also captured the Deputy Prime Minister’s diplomatic efforts, snapping her meeting her Pakistani counterpart earlier this month.
Ms. Rayner left herself open to criticism after a 2021 tweet resurfaced in which she attacked Boris Johnson for spending on Government photographers.
“Instead of spending more taxpayers’ money on more photographers for the sake of his own vanity, the Prime Minister should prioritise feeding the children who will go hungry in half term next week and families facing £1,000 cuts to Universal Credit,” she wrote.
It has become normal in recent years for No. 10 to hire a photographer to record the Prime Minister’s movements. However, Ms. Rayner is said to be the first deputy to have her own.
A Government spokesman insisted Mr. Walker was part of the department’s wider communications team rather than a “personal” hire for Ms. Rayner.” …
On his LinkedIn profile, his job description is listed as “Chief Photographer to the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government”. He had previously worked in No. 10 as Chief Photographer to Rishi Sunak.
I’m sure pensioners will be pleased to know that their deprivations this winter are not in vain as they fund crucial spending by the Labour Government.
Worth reading in full.
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