Chancellor Rachel Reeves was in tears today as Sir Keir Starmer failed to answer questions on her future from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
Ms Reeves was visibly distressed during Prime Minister’s Questions as Ms Badenoch demanded that the Prime Minister confirm whether she will remain in post for the remainder of the parliament.
In a series of exchanges over the controversial welfare bill and Labour’s first year in office, Ms Badenoch noted that Ms Reeves was pointing at her.
“She looks absolutely miserable,” said the Tory leader. “They can point as much as they like, the fact is that Labour MPs are going on record saying the Chancellor is toast and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence.
“In January he said she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”
Sir Keir pointed to Ms Badenoch and quipped: “She certainly won’t.”
He said the government had secured three trade deals, set up breakfast clubs and was building 1.5m homes, but sat down without referring to Ms Reeves, who was clearly crying and looking stressed throughout the session.
Ms Badenoch said: “How awful for the Chancellor that he could not confirm that she will stay in place.”
The Chancellor’s glum look sparked wider speculation about her future which even reached the markets. Bond prices and the pound both fell.
Asked later about Ms Reeves’ tears, a spokesman for the Chancellor said it was a “personal matter”. A Downing Street spokesman insisted that Ms Reeves has the Prime Minister’s full support.
Ms Reeves appeared to be upset before entering the chamber, where she had a brief altercation with Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle. One witness said the chancellor told him: “I’m just under so much pressure”.
Ms Badenoch piled the pressure on the government, saying that one Labour MP had described the government has “incoherent and shambolic”.
She added: “There is no plan to get people into work, no plan to cut the welfare budget. There is no strategy, just a series of humiliating u-turns.”
Sir Keir said he was proud of Labour’s first year in office. His government had delivered on a series of promises including more NHS appointments, the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, a ban on water authority bosses’ bonuses, a big increase in defence spending and the creation of breakfast clubs and GB Energy.
Earlier, during an exchange over the welfare bill, Ms Badenoch accused him of having a “brass neck” and asked if he had read the papers.
Describing the bill as a “pointless waste of time” that will achieve nothing, she said the Prime Minister didn’t have a plan.
“Let me tell the House what is going to happen. In November the Chancellor is going to put up our taxes to pay for his incompetence.
“We on this side of the House know you can’t tax your way to growth.
“People out there are frightened. Can he reassure them by ruling out tax rises in the autumn budget?”
Sir Keir responded by saying that for 14 years the country had “stagnation” which “caused the problem”.
He said that last week Amazon announced plans to invest £40 billion in the UK, bringing inward investment to £120bn in the first year of the Labour govenment.
He added that business confidence is at its highest for nine years and the UK had the fastest growth of the G7 countries in the first quarter.
Ms Badenoch replied: “Unemployment has risen every month since Labour came into office. Has he spoken to Nissan? [which has announced redundancies at its Sunderland plant].
“This man has forgotten that his welfare bill was there to plug a black hole and instead they are creating new ones.”
Comment: Why did Starmer ignore the Chancellor’s distress?
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