Emotions were running higher than normal during PMQs today. None more so than under-pressure Rachel Reeves.
The beleaguered Chancellor was ashen-faced and in tears as she sat next to Sir Keir Starmer during brutal exchanges. Kemi Badenoch turned her guns on “miserable” Ms Reeves who she said was “toast” after the government’s welfare catastrophe.
It appeared to be all too much for the Chancellor, desperately sucking on a mint to stifle her emotions in full glare of the public.
Rumours quickly began to gather that Ms Reeves was about to get sacked or had quit after a tumultuous first year in the job.
Sir Keir did little to quell them, only offering his next-door-neighbour luke-warm praise as he clashed with the Tory leader.
After an agonisingly-long 35-minutes, the weekly session was over.
As a distraught Ms Reeves shuffled out of the chamber I spotted her sister, Ellie, the Labour party Chair, dash over. The pair clasped hands as they left the chamber together.
Shortly after PMQs the Treasury put out a statement saying that the Chancellor was dealing with a “personal matter”.
No 10 also weighed in saying the Chancellor has the PM’s “full backing”.
After the session, Mrs Badenoch’s spokesman added fuel to the fire, saying “personal matter doesn’t really clear it up” and “you normally tell people what the personal matter is”.
He added: “I’m not going to speculate… I think we should find out what’s going on.”
Reports also suggested Ms Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle shortly before Prime Minister’s Questions.
