Labour Party’s shining jewel, Angela Rayner, has been glistening on top of their crown for some time now, making a name for herself as a confident and outspoken working-class woman whose blunt and honest approach to politics has proved rather popular with voters.

While this has undoubtedly made her an attractive asset to Sir Keir Starmer, the past few weeks have demonstrated that it also makes her an excellent target.

It all started when billionaire Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, who is famously known for his massive tax evasion scandal in 2010, wrote and published an unauthorised biography on Ms Rayner last month where he raised questions regarding the sale of her council house in 2015 that he believes she avoided paying tax on.

It appears he has a thing for publishing unwanted words about women, having previously published a book about Boris Johnson’s wife, whom he blamed for having a “negative influence” on her husband.

But it was actually Conservative Party deputy chair, James Daly, who prompted the police investigation against Ms Rayner when he complained to Greater Manchester Police that they were not doing enough when they initially refused to entertain the allegations.

Following the complaint, police are now investigating whether she may have incurred capital gains tax that she did not pay when she sold the property for a £48,500 profit.

Ms Rayner believed she was exempt from the tax as rules stipulate that you do not have to pay if you only own one home and it is your main residence.

However, concerns have been raised that this house was not her main residence, as neighbours claim she was “never there” and she spent most of her time with her husband who lived in a separate property at the time.

Under tax rules, married couples can only count one property as their main home, which is at the heart of this row.

In a statement released by the Labour Party, Ms Rayner said: “If I committed a criminal offence, I would of course do the right thing and step down. The British public deserves politicians who know the rules apply to them.”

She added: “The questions raised relate to a time before I was an MP and I have set out my family’s circumstances and taken expert tax and legal advice.”

She also condemned Lord Ashcroft’s “unhealthy interest” in her family life, accusing the former Tory deputy chair of wanting to “kick down at people like me who graft hard in tough circumstances to get on in life”.

If she is to be found guilty, tax experts estimate she may owe up to about £3,500 in the worst case scenario.

This seems barely worth mentioning by Lord Ashcroft when compared to the £3.4 million that he avoided paying in inheritance tax.

What is even more ironic is that because the allegations relate to pre-2015, it is highly unlikely that she can even be prosecuted if she is actually found guilty.

The tax system is extremely complicated, and lots of people accidentally pay the wrong amount.

This is not a crime. Ignorance is a legitimate defence because ‘tax evasion’ means intentionally being dishonest, not being careless or negligent.

This is quite clearly a desperate attempt from the Tories to do some political point-scoring by discrediting one of Labour’s most popular politicians right before a general election.

But will it even work?

One Labour insider suggests “the reason this is particularly damaging for her is that she looks like a hypocrite— being a woman of the people who has come from nowhere was so valuable to her political brand—now she can’t be the attack dog on ethics and standards”.

Yet Ms Rayner said she would “make no apologies for having held Conservative ministers to account in the past” and added “we have seen the Tory Party use this playbook before— reporting political opponents to the police during election campaigns to distract from their record”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has given his backing to his deputy, saying he is “fully confident” she has not broken any rules. He also accused Rishi Sunak of “smearing a working-class woman”.

Ms. Rayner believed she was exempt from the tax as rules stipulate that you do not have to pay if you own one home and it is your main residence.”