Starmer Says Rachel Reeves 'Doing An Excellent Job' After Chancellor Cries In The Commons

Keir Starmer has claimed Rachel Reeves is doing “an excellent job” as chancellor after she was seen in tears during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.

Her future in the role seemed to be hanging by a thread after Starmer refused to say his ally was safe in the job when asked by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in PMQs.

While a government spokesperson told reporters that Reeves was not going anywhere, her tears instantly rocked the markets and sent the gilts up.

But speaking to the BBC Radio 4′s Political Thinking last night, Starmer said: “She’s made it clear it was a personal matter and I’m not going to go into the personal matter of a colleague.

“She’s done an excellent job as chancellor,” he said. “She and I work together, we think together.

“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.”

Presenter Nick Robinson said that viewers assumed the chancellor’s tears were due to politics and that her job was in jeopardy.

“Firstly, Nick, that’s wrong. I can just tell you that,” the PM said, noting that her sadness had “nothing to do with what happened this week”.

Reeves’ emotional display came after a real crisis for Labour as backbenchers rebelled against the government’s proposed welfare reforms – meaning Reeves would have to fill a £5bn black hole in the public finances.

But Starmer added: “I’m not going to intrude on her privacy by talking to you about that. It was a personal matter.”

Robinson pointed out that Badenoch’s spokesperson has suggested the public have a right to know the details behind the tears and noted Reeves is tied to the performance of the economy.

But Starmer dismissed it had nothing to do with any discussions they had between them.

“She’ll be chancellor by the time this is broadcast, she will be chancellor for a very long time,” he added, “into the next election and for many years after”, claiming they were both working on changing the country together.

In an interview to mark a year since Labour won the general election on a landslide, the PM also told the BBC that he knows he “did not engage” properly with his backbench MPs when it came to their concerns over his welfare reforms.

He said it had been a “tough” few days for the government, but they would “come through this stronger” after a period of reflection.

He said “Labour politicians come into public life because they care deeply” about issues such as disability benefits.

“There is a very, very strong agreement in the Labour Party that we do need to reform the system,” he said. “But I’m not one of these ideological thinkers. I’m a pragmatist.”

 “I came into politics to change lives, after nine long years in opposition,” Starmer said, noting he would “not swap a single day of the last year” for life on the opposition benches again.