Another day, another Labour drama. Rachel Reeves has returned from her weekend China trip to a rather uncomfortable atmosphere back home after last week’s bond market turmoil – with the Labour lot facing surging borrowing costs while Whitehall departments fear further spending cuts. So perhaps it’s not all that surprising that the question of how long Reeves can hold onto her job keeps cropping up…
Taking questions from journalists after his speech on AI this morning, Sir Keir Starmer got the Westminster rumour mill running after he refused to confirm whether Reeves would still be Chancellor of the Exchequer by the next general election. Eyebrows were raised when the PM ducked out of saying whether Reeves would stay on in the job – not least given Starmer was rather quick off the mark to assure reporters last year that Foreign Secretary David Lammy would remain in post for the duration of Labour’s five-year term, following some rather controversial posts about Donald Trump. How very curious.
After uncertainty about the Chancellor’s future threatened to dominate headlines, No. 10 was forced to issue a clarifying statement on Reeves’s position late on Monday. A spokesperson insisted to journalists:
You heard from the Prime Minister this morning. He is very explicit he has full confidence in the Chancellor. He will be working with her in her role as Chancellor for the whole of this Parliament to grow the economy and deliver for working people.
Crisis averted – for Reeves at least. Whether the bond markets would agree is quite another matter…
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