A senior British minister has denied the government is in crisis after Angela Rayner's resignation over her tax affairs triggered a major cabinet reshuffle.
Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones said Keir Starmer now has the "strongest possible team" in place after his former deputy quit for breaching the ministerial code.
He ruled out the prospect of an early election amid opposition claims that the upheaval could open up splits within Labour and collapse the prime minister's authority.
A wider junior ministerial reshuffle is now understood to be taking place today as Mr Starmer seeks to draw a line under the fallout from Ms Rayner's departure.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Jones dismissed suggestions that the rejig could delay the prime minister's self-described "phase two" of government by moving senior figures to unfamiliar briefs.
"It's not instability insofar as the outcomes that we're delivering are the same," Mr Jones, who is also the newly appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told BBC Breakfast.
"Because of the former deputy prime minister's resignation, the prime minister decided it was the decisive thing to do, to bring (the reshuffle) forward and to get it done on Friday, then to be able to move forward with the strongest team that we have around the cabinet now leading on delivering the public's priorities."
He rejected suggestions Yvette Cooper had been moved out of the Home Office because she was failing to get a grip on immigration, adding that she would be "brilliant" in her new role as Foreign Secretary.
Ms Rayner quit as deputy prime minister, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader after an independent ethics investigation found she had failed to pay enough stamp duty on a seaside flat she bought this year.
In a letter published yesterday, Laurie Magnus said he believed she had acted in "good faith", but that "the responsibility of any taxpayer for reporting their tax returns and settling their liabilities rests ultimately with themselves".
The ethics watchdog said that Ms Rayner's failure to settle her full stamp duty liability, along with the fact that this was only established following media scrutiny of her tax affairs, led him to consider the ministerial code had been breached.
Her sudden departure prompted the first major reshuffle of Mr Starmer's premiership, in which he sacked two ministers, promoted two and moved 10 into different roles.
Former foreign secretary David Lammy has been made Deputy Prime Minister and also takes over as Justice Secretary from Shabana Mahmood, who has become Home Secretary.
Former Scotland secretary Ian Murray has become a minister jointly in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Mike Tapp and Louise Jones, both from the 2024 intake of Labour MPs, have become ministers in the Home Office and Ministry of Defence respectively.
Baroness Levitt, who was the principal legal adviser to Mr Starmer while he served as director of public prosecutions, becomes a justice minister.
Chris Ward, who has served as the Prime Minister's principal private secretary, has been made a Cabinet Office minister, and Seema Malhotra has become parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Foreign Office, while remaining minister for equalities.
Miatta Fahnbulleh and Samantha Dixon have entered the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as ministers. Dr Zubir Ahmed, another MP from the 2024 intake, has become a health minister.
Abena Oppong-Asare has left Government as a Cabinet Office minister, as have Catherine West as a Foreign Office minister, Frederick Ponsonby as a justice minister and Wajid Khan as faith and communities minister.
Mr Starmer now faces the prospect of a party conference overshadowed by manoeuvring for the deputy leadership role vacated by Ms Rayner, who was popular among grassroots and seen as a bridge between No 10 and the wider party.
But Mr Jones dismissed the idea that her departure could expose divisions between different factions within Labour after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said "splits" would open up following the scandal.
"Nigel Farage is wrong there," he said.
"The Labour Party is not going to split and there won't be an early election."
