Rachel Reeves admitted she was “under so much pressure” before her tearful PMQs, according to reports. The Chancellor is said to have made the comment to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle just before the session kicked off.
According to the Guardian, Ms Reeves said: “I’m just under so much pressure.” The Chancellor was visibly upset as she sat in the Commons as questions were raised over her political future following Sir Keir Starmer’s humiliating U-turn on welfare cuts.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Ms Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and challenged the Prime Minister to say whether she would keep her job until the next election.
Sir Keir dodged the question about whether Ms Reeves would be in place for the remainder of the Parliament, saying Mrs Badenoch “certainly won’t”.
Mrs Badenoch went on: “Today the Prime Minister refused to back his Chancellor, leaving her humiliated.
“She is the human shield for his expensive U-turns. How can anyone be a chancellor for a man who doesn’t know what he believes and who changes his mind every other minute?”
A spokesman for the Chancellor insisted she was dealing with a “personal matter.
They said: “It’s a personal matter which, as you would expect, we are not going to get into. The Chancellor will be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.”
Reports suggested Ms Reeves had been involved in an altercation with Sir Lindsay shortly before PMQs.
A spokeswoman for the Speaker said: “No comment.”
Asked why Sir Keir did not confirm in the Commons that he still had faith in Ms Reeves, the Prime Minister’s press secretary told reporters: “He has done so repeatedly. The Chancellor is going nowhere. She has the Prime Minister’s full backing.
“He has said it plenty of times, he doesn’t need to repeat it every time the Leader of the Opposition speculates about Labour politicians.”