Nigel Farage said it was “quite difficult to watch” Rachel Reeves’s tearful PMQs. The Reform UK leader branded it “wobbly Wednesday” and said “something really was going badly wrong” after the Chancellor was visibly emotional as Sir Keir Starmer faced his weekly grilling in the Commons at lunchtime.
The Clacton MP described it as a “genuinely miserable” 24 hours for the Labour Government after yesterday’s U-turn on welfare cuts in the face of a major Labour rebellion. Speaking on GB News, he said: “It has been a genuinely miserable 24 hours for the Government.
“Huge concessions were made on the welfare bill, so much so that frankly it wasn’t really worth the paper that it was written on, certainly when it comes to personal independence payments.
“And that means the so-called £5 billion they were hoping to save effectively had been wiped out leading of course to lots of speculation about looming tax rises coming up in the budget in a few months.
“It seemed overnight that the Prime Minister’s authority had waned quite considerably.”
Turning to PMQs, Mr Farage went on: “When Reeves walked into the chamber the DUP MP sitting next to me said she looks ill.
“I thought goodness me, she looks terrible. As the 35 minutes went on she several times had to wipe away tears.
“It was actually sitting opposite quite difficult to watch. I thought maybe there’s been some personal family bereavement or something horrid’s happened in the last few hours.
“Afterwards No10 immediately refused to confirm or deny whether it was personal or not. Rachel Reeves’s office said it was a personal matter. Then as the day’s gone on it turns out that the Speaker of the House wasn’t very happy with her yesterday in terms of the way she answered questions.
“And the closest to the truth I think I’ve been able to get is that as Reeves was coming into the chamber the Speaker did have a word with her. And then speculation runs rife all through the afternoon that prior to that there had been some huge argument with a member of the Cabinet.
“It just had a feeling this wobbly Wednesday that something really was going badly wrong. But just how much trouble is the Government in?”
A spokesman for the Chancellor insisted she was dealing with a “personal matter” and No 10 said after PMQs that she had Sir Keir’s “full backing”.