Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has defended using a £68,000-a-year vanity photographer paid for by the taxpayer as she insists she is “trying to strike the balance” of her job.

Ms Rayner said she was trying to let people “know what you’re doing and where you are” when she was asked about the hire on ITV’s Lorraine.

She also told the programme that government process can sometimes feel like getting “bogged down in the weeds”, as she spoke about her experiences of the first few months in office.

Asked why she has a photographer “following you around”, Ms Rayner told the programme: “There’s a kind of balance to be had, because sometimes you get ‘well, you never see her’, or ‘she’s only doing that for a photo opportunity’.

“So you kind of try and strike the right balance between letting people know what you’re doing and where you are.

“And then there’s others that will then criticise and say, ‘well, you’re just trying to project an image of what you’re doing’.

“So it’s kind of trying to strike the balance between seriousness of, here’s me, this is what I’m doing … ”

Earlier this year it was reported that the photographer had been hired by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of the department’s communication team.

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“She obviously needs a lot more than a £68k taxpayer funded vanity photographer to achieve any noticeable results! AI could have done it online …” 47

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While in opposition, Ms Rayner was critical of former prime minister Boris Johnson’s three taxpayer-funded photographers.

In 2021, she said: “The public will be rightly questioning why there is apparently no limit on the money that can be found to pay for a coterie of vanity photographers for the prime minister.”

Ms Rayner, who serves as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, told the programme that being in government can sometimes “feel a bit like you’re bogged down in the weeds”.

Asked whether there was anything that had frustrated her since getting into government, Ms Rayner said: “I think the frustration for me is I always want things done … yesterday, and I’ve always been like that. I’m eager to prove that I could do it and also make change … and government doesn’t work as quickly as that.

“You have to go through lots of processes, lots of consultations that you have to do before you introduce new legislation, so sometimes that can feel a bit like you’re bogged down in the weeds.”