Rachel Reeves at risk of becoming shortest-serving Labour Chancellor
Rachel Reeves is at risk of becoming the shortest-serving Labour Chancellor in history after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer declined to give her a public show of support.
The PM was facing questions at Prime Minister’s Questions today over his handling of a welfare reform package which has been stripped of key elements to limit the scale of a Labour revolt.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and challenged Starmer to say whether she would keep her job until the next election.
The PM dodged the question about whether Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Badenoch “certainly won’t”.
The Chancellor was visibly tearful in the House of Commons, as her position came under intense scrutiny after the welfare U-turn which put an almost £5bn black hole in her plans.
However her allies said she was dealing with a “personal matter” and No 10 said she had the PM’s “full backing”.
After PMQs, Downing Street said Reeves is “going nowhere” and will remain as Chancellor.
Reeves has been Chancellor since Labour won general election on 4 July – officially taking on the role the following day.
If she was to depart, Reeves would become the shortest-serving Labour Chancellor in history.
The unwanted title is currently held by Hugh Gaitskell who was Chancellor for 374 between 1950 and 1951.
The shortest-serving Chancellor was Tory Iain Macleod who serves for 30 days in 1970.
Kwasi Kwarteng, who served under Liz Truss, held the role for 38 days in 2022.
Reeves succeeded Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor who led the Treasury for a year and nine months.
PM has ‘repeatedly’ backed Rachel Reeves
Following the conclusion of PMQs today, gilt yields spiked – rising above 4.6 per cent.
In the chamber, Badenoch said: “Today the Prime Minister refused to back his Chancellor, leaving her humiliated.
“She is the human shield for his expensive U-turns. How can anyone be a chancellor for a man who doesn’t know what he believes and who changes his mind every other minute?”
As the Chancellor left the Commons after Prime Minister’s Questions her sister, Ellie Reeves, took her hand in an apparent show of support.
Asked about her tears, a spokesman for the Chancellor said: “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.”
The PA news agency has cited report suggesting that Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle shortly before PMQs.
A spokeswoman for the Speaker said: “No comment.”
Asked why Starmer did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith in Reeves, the Prime Minister’s press secretary told reporters: “He has done so repeatedly.
“The Chancellor is going nowhere. She has the Prime Minister’s full backing.
“He has said it plenty of times, he doesn’t need to repeat it every time the Leader of the Opposition speculates about Labour politicians.”
Asked whether the Prime Minister still had confidence in Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the press secretary said: “Yes.”