Angela Rayner has been skewered over her previous call for Boris Johnson to resign when he faced a police probe.
The Labour deputy leader is being investigated by Greater Manchester Police in a row over her former living arrangements. But in January 2022 she took to social media platform X to call for Mr Johnson to quit as PM over a Met Police investigation into partygate.
She said: “Boris Johnson’s Downing Street is under police investigation, how on earth can he think he can stay on as Prime Minister?”
Sharing a screenshot of her tweet, Reform UK leader Richard Tice said: “Angela Rayner is under police investigation, how on earth can she think she can stay on as deputy leader of the Labour Party? They want to be the next Govt……”
Greater Manchester Police previously said the Labour deputy leader would not face a probe over claims she had given false information about where she was living on the electoral roll.
But the force today confirmed it has launched an investigation after a complaint by Tory deputy chairman James Daly.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We’re investigating whether any offences have been committed.
“This follows a reassessment of the information provided to us by Mr Daly.”
The Ashton-under-Lyne MP, who denies any wrongdoing, has faced weeks of intense scrutiny after claims in Tory peer Lord Ashcroft’s unauthorised biography that she failed to properly declare her main home.
There are questions over whether she should have paid capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her ex-council house.
Ms Rayner bought the property in Vicarage Road in Stockport, Greater Manchester, with a 25 percent discount in 2007 under the right-to-buy scheme.
The former carer is said to have made a £48,500 profit when selling the house eight years later.
She has insisted she lived apart from Mark Rayner after they married in 2010 until she sold her property in 2015.
Her then-husband was listed at another address in Lowndes Lane, about a mile away, where Ms Rayner is said to have re-registered the births of her two youngest children.
But neighbours have disputed claims that Ms Rayner lived separately.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Angela welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police. We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it’s now appropriate to let the police do its work.”
