Sir Keir Starmer has been forced to back Rachel Reeves as she has come under pressure over supposed inaccuracies on her CV.
It was claimed last week that the Chancellor updated her job history on LinkedIn to suggest that she had worked at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for longer than she had previously stated.
Ms Reeves’ profile had previously said that her stint at the Bank of England, which she has referenced previously in an effort to reinforce her credentials, lasted months longer than it now says, PA reports.
In November, No. 10 said that the Chancellor has a record of being “straight with the public” over the nation’s finances amid other claims about her CV.
Ms Reeves has also allegedly made inaccurate statements regarding her time at the Bank of England.
At the Labour Party Business Conference in February last year, Ms Reeves said: “I spent the best part of a decade as an economist at the Bank of England.”
In a speech to the Labour Party Business Conference in February last year, Reeves said: “I spent the best part of a decade as an economist at the Bank of England.”
The BBC reports that she said the same thing at a CEO summit in July 2022, and in a video posted on her Facebook page.
A Labour party document last year stated that the Chancellor spent “most of the first decade of her career at the Bank of England”.
But, the broadcaster has said she had already started at HBOS by the spring of 2006, and Ms Reeves only spent five and a half years at the BoE.
This time period included nearly a year studying for an MA at the London School of Economics (LSE).
Last year, during previous controversy about Reeves’s CV, the Bank of England confirmed that Reeves had left in 2006 but refused to give the month of her departure, saying it was a detailed staff record that they couldn’t provide.
The claim was also repeated in a Labour party document last year which stated that she spent “most of the first decade of her career at the Bank of England”.
As she had already started at HBOS by the spring of 2006, her time at the central bank only amounted to five and a half years. This included nearly a year studying for a Masters at the London School of Economics (LSE).
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In addition, the BBC has reported that her use of expenses during her time for the company was subject to an internal investigation.
The corportation stated that HBOS opened an investigation into the spending culture of the department at the bank where the Chancellor once worked.
The report said that a whistleblower complained that Ms Reeves and two senior colleagues’ use of expenses was “excessive”.
A spokesperson for Ms Reeves has claimed that she was not aware of the probe, and a Cabinet minister has attacked the broadcaster for “totally inaccurate” reporting.
On Friday, Science Secretary Peter Kyle said: “Unfortunately, the reporting has been totally inaccurate, and we heard yesterday that the person who was actually head of HR at that bank at that time says it’s untrue, said that she never, ever receive a file on Rachel Reeves.”