The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused exaggerating how long she spent working for the Bank of England (BoE).
Reeves told Stylist magazine in 2021 that she had spent a decade working as an economist at the UK’s central bank and “loved it”, as reported by The Telegraph.
In a subsequent post on social media, the government’s chief financial minister said it had been a “real pleasure to speak to @StylistMagazine about my time as an economist at the Bank of England”.
But the outlet noted that Reeves’ LinkedIn page lists just six years and four months of service at the BoE from September 2000 to December 2006.
During her time there she worked in the international economic analysis division, spent a period on secondment to the UK Embassy in Washington as Second Secretary of the economic division and later worked in the structural economic analysis division, according to her profile on the site.
The BoE confirmed to the PA news agency that Reeves worked for them during the dates she has listed on her LinkedIn profile.
It comes after the Guido Fawkes website reported in October that while Reeves had previously claimed she worked as an “economist” at the Bank of Scotland between 2006 and 2009, she had actually been working in a support unit managing administration, IT and planning matters.
A Labour source said Reeves “worked in retail banking covering various areas drawing on her background as an economist. Her LinkedIn has been updated to reflect that.’
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, who recently lost out to Kemi Badenoch in the Conservative leadership contest, called the claim “another brazen lie from Rachel Reeves”.
“Rachel Reeves has proven herself to be a compulsive liar,” he told the newspaper. “During the election campaign she lied through her teeth about not raising taxes on working people,” Jenrick said, adding: Now she’s been exposed brazenly lying about her CV, which would be curtains for most people.
“It’s one rule for her, another for everyone else.”
One of the six years Reeves spent at the BoE was for a year-long masters degree at the London School of Economics.
Henry Newman, a former Michael Gove and senior advisor to Boris Johnson told The Telegraph: “Her own LinkedIn shows Reeves spent six years at Bank of which one was spent studying – so not working as an economist.”
A Labour source said: “The Chancellor won’t take any lectures on honesty from a man whose scandals went too far for even Boris Johnson to stand by him.
“The British public voted for change with Labour this summer, and after Robert Jenrick’s performance you can see why.”
Rachel Reeves has been approached for comment.
