If Rachel Reeves is ever in need of another job, she might want to consider a career as an illusionist. The Chancellor did a pretty good audition during her spring statement, telling MPs that the economy is actually ok and things will only get better. So good was her performance, in fact, Harry Houdini and David Copperfield might have been hoodwinked. Not Tory MPs though, they were incandescent with rage.
Chief Labour-bater Richard Holden, the MP for Basildon and Billericay, had clearly had too many Wheetabix for breakfast as he barracked from the backbenches. Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge must have swallowed the box, such was the ferocity of his anger at the words coming out of the Chancellor’s mouth.
The disbelief extended to an animated Kemi Badenoch, with the Tory leader heckling “desperate, absolutely desperate” as Ms Reeves attempted to talk up the economy. Many on the Labour benches did well to contain their mounting anger too, with Richard Burgon appearing sick with dismay over the Chancellor’s disability cuts.
These triggered outrage from the SNPs Stephen Flynn, who spent much of his early life suffering from a debilitating hip condition.
Perhaps Ms Reeves performance was more akin to the comedy illusionist Tommy Cooper, whose routine often specialised in magic tricks that appeared to fail.
Despite her upbeat assessment, she might take heed from Cooper’s most famous catchphrase.
Because if the country’s economic fortunes don’t improve quickly, she could be looking for a new job “just like that”.
