Rachel Reeves denied her dramatic tears at PMQs were down to a spat with the PM or Speaker today.
The Chancellor insisted she was dealing with a “personal issue” but refused to give details as she spoke about the extraordinary scenes in the Commons for the first time.
She told broadcasters that unlike most people her “tough days” were caught on camera.
Ms Reeves also stressed she is “totally” up for the job despite mounting problems in her in-tray.
The comments came after Ms Reeves was flanked at an NHS launch event in London by Keir Starmer – who gave her an awkward hug – and Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who heaped praise on her.
She said it was “great to be here today,” but did not refer to the scenes from yesterday.
Onlookers seemed to be regarding her upbeat demeanour with some scepticism.
The PM has given a guarantee that Ms Reeves will remain in her job “into the next election and for many years after” amid continuing mystery over her public show of emotion.
Markets slowly recovered ground this morning after being spooked by the Commons meltdown and speculation Ms Reeves might be on the way out.
Interest rates on gilts – the way the government borrows money – have subsided and the Pound has stabilised.
Ms Reeves is said to have told MPs before the episode that she was “under pressure” with an apparent £30-£40billion pound black hole in the public finances.
Ms Reeves said today: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.”
“My job as Chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the Prime Minister, supporting the Government and that’s what I tried to do.”
“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.”
The Chancellor rejected suggestions that her tears were related to a conversation with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle or another member of Government.
“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job,” she added.
Sir Keir insisted that the cause of Ms Reeves’ misery was “purely personal”, saying that politicians are “humans”.
Extraordinarily, he also suggested he did not notice his Chancellor was crying next to him because he was busy answering questions.
This was despite Kemi Badenoch telling him that Ms Reeves looked “miserable.
“If it had been anybody else at work it would not really have been noticed,” he told Virgin Radio.
Sir Keir suggested he “personally didn’t appreciate it was happening in the chamber” because he was answering questions.
He appeared to double down on Ms Reeves‘ stance on her “cast iron” fiscal rules despite the increasingly parlous state of the public finances.
“She and I are absolutely committed to our fiscal rules,” he said.
Sir Keir said the Chancellor’s tears were “nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with the ups and downs of this week.
They had “nothing to do with her relationship with anybody in the Labour Party, it’s purely personal.
He said: “What I would say is – and you’ll understand this – in politics, you’re on show the whole time, there’s no hiding place.
“But we are humans in the end and sometimes personal things are obviously on our minds.”
“In this case, that was the situation.”
He said they were “absolutely committed to our fiscal rules and the economic stability that is so important for this country.”
“On that issue, Rachel and I are in lockstep, and have been for years.”
He added: “She’s great colleague. She’s a friend of mine and I’ll be working with her for a very long time to come.”
“But like all human beings, we’re also personal.”
There are moments that catch us off guard and if you’re in front of a camera for large periods of your life, unfortunately, that could be caught on camera.”
“If it had been anybody else at work, it would have not really been noticed.”
The Chancellor is said to have clashed with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle just before PMQs.
He had rebuked her for giving over-long answers at Treasury questions on Tuesday.
To Sir Lindsay’s surprise, she burst into tears and was heard to remark she was “under so much pressure”.
Ms Reeves appeared to become particularly emotional as Sir Keir refused to guarantee she will be in her job until the next election.
Afterwards she was seen being comforted by her sister Ellie – also a Labour minister – as she left the chamber.
Sir Keir did not speak to her after the session.
Ms Reeves’ spokesman insisted afterwards that it was a “personal matter” and he would not be “getting into” the reasons.
No10 and No11 both denied claims Ms Reeves had an argument with Sir Keir before they entered the Commons.
One Cabinet minister told the Mail’s Dan Hodges: “She was already on edge after an argument she had with Angela Rayner over the benefits climbdown.
“Then when Lindsay had a little pop that pushed her over the edge. But it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t really about him.”
Allies of Ms Rayner dismissed the suggestion of a row as “b***ocks”, insisting the Deputy Prime Minister had not spoken to Ms Reeves before PMQs.
In a separate interview with the BBC last night, Sir Keir denied any rift between them.
He said her tears had “nothing to do with politics” or Labour’s embarrassing U-turns on benefits.
“That’s absolutely wrong,” he said. “[it’s] nothing to do with what’s happened this week.”
“It was a personal matter for her, I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you.”
He added: “She’s done an excellent job as chancellor and we have delivered inward investment to this country in record numbers.
“She and I work together, we think together”, he said.
“In the past there have been examples – I won’t give any specifics – of chancellors and prime ministers who weren’t in lockstep. We’re in lockstep.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Ms Reeves was a “tough cookie.
It’s why with the choices she’s made, not always the most popular choices, is creating the conditions for our economy to grow,” he told ITV’s Peston.
Mr Streeting added Ms Reeves has “something going on personally, not professionally”.
“It’s easy to forget that we’re all humans as politicians and we have lives like everyone else,” he continued.
Interest rates on 10-year and 30-year gilts spiked and the pound slipped sharply against the US dollar as the Commons scenes unfolded.
Just a year on from his election landslide, Sir Keir’s authority has been left in tatters after his extraordinary surrender to avert defeat at the hands of Labour rebels.
Ms Badenoch said he had made “mistake after mistake”, highlighting volte faces over grooming gangs and winter fuel al
Image credit:
Rachel Reeves Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024. Photo by UK Government, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL).
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