Rachel Reeves has been “straight” with the British public about her career and history as an economist, Downing Street has insisted.
The intervention came after the Chancellor was caught editing her LinkedIn work experience page on Friday, amid allegations she had misled people about her time at the Bank of Scotland.
Ms Reeves sparked allegations she had lied to, and misled, the public about her claims she had spent years as an economist before entering politics.
In October the Guido Fawkes website revealed that while she claimed she worked as an “economist” at the Bank of Scotland between 2006 and 2009, she in fact had a more mundane job working in a support unit managing administration, IT and planning matters.
However on Friday, just hours after she was dealt a blow by terrible economic growth figures Ms Reeves was caught quietly editing her LinkedIn CV to reflect her true role.
On her social media account, the Halifax-based job has now been subtly edited from “economist” to “retail banking”.
A Treasury source has now admitted: “She worked in retail banking covering various areas drawing on her background as an economist. Her LinkedIn has been updated to reflect that.“
Over the weekend she also face allegations that she had over inflated her time working at the Bank of England, where she started her career.
In a 2021 interview for Stylist magazine, she claimed she had “spent a decade” as an economist at Britain’s central bank.
However her Linkedin reveals she spent just six years working there.
Finally intervening in the row today, Keir Starmer’s official spokesman defended Ms Reeves as someone who’s been “straight with the public” in response to the widespread criticism.
Asked if the PM was concerned that Reeves had exaggerated her CV, the PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the morning lobby briefing: “The prime minister is very clear that the chancellor has restored financial stability.”
“This is someone who on coming into office looked under the bonnet and exposed a £22bn black hole in the public finances, and has been straight with the public about what is necessary to balance the books and restore financial stability in the face of that.”
Asked again about the stories, the spokesperson said: “The PM is very clear that this is a chancellor that has been straight with the public about the state of the public finances and what is necessary to restore financial stability. That is most important.”
On Friday a Conservative Party source accused Ms Reeves of “deception”, telling the Express: “It seems Rachel Reeves employment history claims are about as accurate as her promises not to raise taxes on working people – based on deception and increasingly proved false.”
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick quipped: “Reeves said she was an economist. Turns out she’s just economical with the truth.”
The row came after she used her inaugural speech at Mansion House last week to reiterate her previous work history as an economist, telling City professionals: “Before entering politics, I worked as an economist at the Bank of England. And then in financial services.”
