Keir Starmer has said he and Rachel Reeves are in ‘lockstep’ as he praised the ‘excellent job’ she is doing as Chancellor after she was tearful during Prime Minister’s Questions
Rachel Reeves doing excellent job, PM tells BBC after Commons tears
Keir Starmer has said he and Rachel Reeves are in “lockstep” as he praised the “excellent job” she is doing as Chancellor after she was tearful during PMQs.
The Prime Minister said she will be Chancellor for “many years to come” after earlier swerving a question on her future in the Commons.
In his first words since Ms Reeves’s tearful appearance this afternoon, Mr Starmer told the BBC: “She’s done an excellent job as Chancellor and we have delivered inward investment to this country in record numbers.
“She and I work together, we think together. In the past there have been examples – I won’t give any specifics – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep.”
The PM said Ms Reeves’s tears were to do with a personal matter, on which he would not elaborate. He said it had “nothing to do with politics” or this week’s dramatic welfare U-turns.
Pressed on whether it was, Mr Starmer said: “That’s absolutely wrong. Nothing to do with what’s happened this week. It was a personal matter for her, I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you.”
This afternoon, Ms Reeves wiped away tears during a tense PMQs, where Mr Starmer came under attack from Tory Kemi Badenoch over his disability cuts U-turn. The Prime Minister did not properly answer a question on his Chancellor’s future during the clash as Ms Badenoch crowed “she looks absolutely miserable”.
No10 moved swiftly to insist she was “going nowhere” and had the PM’s full confidence for the rest of the Parliament after PMQs. And a spokesman for the Chancellor added: “It’s a personal matter, which – as you would expect – we are not going to get into. The Chancellor will be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.”
Cabinet Ministers were rallying round Ms Reeves tonight after a bruising few days for the Government. One top minister told the Mirror that they were behind her, adding: “She has an incredibly tough job.” Another said Ms Reeves “100%” had the confidence of her colleagues.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told ITV: “Rachel, as her team have said today, has something going on personally, not professionally. It’s easy to forget but we are all humans, as politicians, and we have lives like everyone else.”
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander earlier described Ms Reeves as “a superbly skilled, talented, resilient politician” and said the PM had been clear she is not going “anywhere.” “It doesn’t surprise me to hear the Prime Minister say that he’s got absolute faith in her and that she’s not going anywhere,” she told LBC.
“I’ve known her for a long time and I know that she is a superbly skilled, talented, resilient politician and I think the Labour Party and the Labour government owe her a lot for the leadership she showed, particularly in advance of the election, to get us to a place where the public said: ‘We’ll trust the Labour Party with our money.’”
Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told LBC “the Chancellor is fine, she is working in Downing Street”. He said: “Rachel is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but she is also a human being.
“And you did see her being a human being. I’ve known, Rachel many, many years. She’s extraordinarily resilient, highly able and has been doing an excellent job.” He added that “Prime Minister’s Questions is an absolute bear pit”.
Earlier, Ms Reeves appeared upset when she entered the Commons chamber and was then said to have had an “altercation” with Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle just before PMQs. As she left the chamber, her sister Ellie Reeves, who is also a Labour MP, appeared to be holding her hand.
In a heated PMQs session, the PM clashed with Ms Badenoch over the decision to scrap a key plank of his welfare reforms in a chaotic climbdown on Tuesday. In the face of a Labour revolt, the Government shelved plans to restrict eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) until after a review next year, only 90 minutes before MPs were due to vote.
The retreat leaves a nearly £5billion black hole in Ms Reeves’ spending plans, fuelling speculation she could be forced to hike taxes. She must also find £1.25billion for last month’s partial U-turn on the winter fuel allowance cut.
In a fiery exchange, Ms Badenoch accused the PM of treating the Chancellor as a “human shield”. The Conservative leader said the “welfare bill was created to plug a black hole created by the Chancellor. Instead, they’re creating new ones”.