Rachel Reeves faces biggest humiliation yet – Starmer might as well lock her in a cupboard
Labour is trying to pretend Rachel Reeves doesn’t exist. And she isn’t happy.
On the rack: is Keir Starmer sidelining Rachel Reeves? (Image: Getty)
The Chancellor was reportedly “spitting feathers” after being excluded from Keir Starmer’s recent high-profile trip to China. Given the visit was meant to showcase British business and deepen economic ties, Reeves would surely have expected a starring role. In the event, she wasn’t even invited. She fears irreparable damage to her personal brand, and suspects this may be the beginning of the end of her stint at Number 11.
Reeves remains convinced she’s done a terrific job of driving growth. That takes a heroic level of self-confidence, since the evidence points firmly the other way. GDP growth has stalled on her watch. Some things are rising though. Like unemployment, public spending, the budget deficit, national debt, borrowing costs and our tax bills.
Running through that list, I almost wish Starmer had taken Reeves to see the sights of Beijing. Leaving her at home only invites more damage.
After a second calamitous Budget last November, even the PM appears to have had enough. He’s found someone in his Cabinet even less suited to their job than he is, and seems to be edging her towards the exit.
But it’s awkward. Their political fates are tightly entwined. Push her out and Starmer could be next through the door. So Labour appears to be trying a different tactic: concealment.
The process began before the last Budget, when potty-mouthed pensions minister Torsten Bell was parachuted in to write it, rather than leaving Reeves to her own devices. Starmer also surrounded himself with a small army of senior economic advisers, to crowd her out. And she still managed to deliver the most chaotic Budget in history.
Now the Treasury seems to have adopted a containment strategy. Effectively, they’re locking her in the broom cupboard.
According to today’s Sunday Telegraph, officials want Reeves to duck delivering the Spring Statement on 3 March. Instead, they’d prefer a junior minister to take her place, to avoid a repeat of the shambolic run-up to the autumn Budget, when leaks, briefings and U-turns sent markets and businesses into paralysis. That did real damage, and throttled economic confidence. Activity is still struggling to recover.
If the report is true, it’s extraordinary.
A Chancellor gets two big moments a year: the Budget and the Spring Statement. They guard them jealously. Gordon Brown wouldn’t even tell Tony Blair what he was planning. Reeves, according to the report, isn’t trusted to speak at all.
Whitehall wants a “non-event”. A “low-key” update, ticking through technical details. Civil servants know that’s impossible with Rachel Reeves. The moment she opens her mouth, she triggers event-scale chaos.
And there’s nothing low-key about record taxes, collapsing growth and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. So it’s no surprise they’d rather stick her out back and send out a junior instead. Happily for Reeves, and her dignity, she’s managed to fight back.
The Telegraph says a Treasury spokesperson insists Reeves will deliver the Spring Statement after all. Good for her. Now she just has to prove Whitehall sceptics wrong, and avoid another car crash. Fail again, and Starmer won’t just lock her up. He’ll throw away the key. Although the way things are going, he’ll soon be in the broom cupboard too.
