Rachel Reeves’s future as Chancellor has been thrown into doubt by Keir Starmer as he twice refused to confirm she would stay on and appointed a senior Treasury official as a top adviser amid the fallout from her Budget. The Telegraph has more.
Sir Keir Starmer twice refused to guarantee that Ms. Reeves would still be Chancellor at the next election during a press conference on Monday morning.
His spokesman was later forced to insist that the Chancellor would be kept in post, but the Prime Minister’s comments prompted one Labour MP to privately call for her to be sacked if the situation does not improve.
There is speculation that Ms. Reeves could be replaced by Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who is often described as the de facto Deputy Prime Minister, or Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary.
It also emerged on Monday that Sir Keir had appointed Olaf Henricson-Bell, the former Treasury official, as his Director of Policy in what will be seen by some as a blow to the Chancellor’s authority.
It follows calls for Sir Keir to appoint someone with meaningful Treasury or economic experience to No 10.
The Conservatives accused Sir Keir of using the Chancellor as a “scapegoat” for the dire state of the economy, while Reform U.K. said she was merely implementing “his economic agenda”.
Lord Clarke, the former Tory Chancellor, said it would be a “disaster” for the Prime Minister to sack Ms. Reeves, as she had taken “controversial steps” with his backing.
Ms. Reeves is under mounting pressure over the state of the economy and public finances as the Government faces surging borrowing costs.
The turmoil in Britain’s financial markets continued on Monday, with oil prices soaring to a six-month high – provoking fresh inflation fears.
The pound fell to a new 14-month low as Goldman Sachs forecast that sterling will fall to $1.20 against the dollar over the next year.
Olaf Henricson-Bell, Starmer’s new policy chief, was the most senior communications adviser to three successive Chancellors under the previous Tory Government.
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You can’t get the organ grinder to play a different tune by changing the monkey.
And the organ is broken.
The monkey isn’t too good, either.
“Keir Starmer gives full backing to Rachel Reeves”
She’s gone!
Starmer knows exactly what she was planning and was behind it, just like the rest of the party. No Monday morning quarterbacks required now, just because the wheels are coming off…
Unfortunately Rachel, the number of Accounts or Complaints vacancies in the Private Sector is shrinking by the day. Probably all gone by the time you are ‘pursuing new opportunities’.
Who take this ridiculous political posturing seriously?
All this absurd palace intrigue is just a pointless pantomime that the political class, the establishment bureaucracy and the establishment media play among and for themselves, with the general public left to cheer and hiss.
It’s all so stupid and pointless. Who still believes any of this crap?
The politicians believe this crap, the pundits believe this crap, the media believe this crap – otherwise their actions are pointless and their careers finished.
I think the rôle Ed Minbrain is playing is being overlooked. Increased energy prices is having the same toll on businesses as increased taxes, and £billions being firehosed at Net Zero boondoggles is raising the borrowing requirement.
The economy faces a structural problem, changing the face of the goon at the Exchequer won’t alter that. It’s about policy, not personality.
Rachel from Accounts->
Rachel is accountable->
Rachael can’t count->
Rachel on no account->
Rachel back to Accounts!
I caught a brief segment of her speech on the Radio proclaiming, I will be going to the World Economic Forum to push for more business. I wouldn’t be so candid about that love LOL! All this ‘change’ Starmer talks about, and everybody has a ‘Stake’, I wonder is that an implicit referral to Stakeholder Capitalism.
Rachel from Accounts going to the Davos Deviants and their fascist empire touting for business to come here is like a person with a swamp going to a housing conference to get business to build on their land. In her favourite cliche about fixing the foundations, you have to create a positive business environment and you haven’t.
Rachel-from-Accounts obviously doesn’t understand that the WEF is still in the “creative destruction” phase.
All they are doing, and will do, is ramp up the destruction so they can “Build Back Better.”
How does that work exactly?
What business does the WEF have to give to Britain?
Oh… I see, the WEF is the organisation the cartel of global corporations uses to negotiate their “partnership” with states. So I guess the negotiation involves the laws and regulations states have to enact and tspecific ax breaks for corporations that need to be given for corporations in various industries for them to do more business there.
So Isuppose for example it’s the forum where certain pharma companies inform various states of their conditions they require to set up production facilities and then countries can try to outbid each other giving them the best conditions.
It seems to me that if anyone is going to be doing any pushing it’s going to be the WEF’s corporate “partners” and the one getting pushed around is Rachel.
I never heard any politician give the game away so clearly.
I think her future is pretty secure. She will crash and burn in ignominy, at some point in the near future….
Hopefully when she does, she starts talking. We want these rats to bury each other.
There is something about these nasal voices that gets the heckles up. She and Starmer both have dreadful voices, Sinister adenoidal robotic monotone.
Good job she’s not a premier league football manager – backing by the board is a sure sign her days would be numbered.
A wrongun for years lookint at her career
Bring it on.
They are weaving the hemp that will (hopefully only in the political sense!) Be used to hang them.
Kier is fucking toast.
She’s a Communist. There’s really no hope for our economy until the next General Election.
This year is the opening of the seond seal. Close quarteres fighting and brother against brother. Don’t fear invading armies or global cataclysms. Instead focus on the real danger. The rise in crime over the last year is remarkable just look it up. This year there will be a feeling of desperation among many and the police will be overwhelmed. It is as clear as day given how poverty is about to increase sharply. Food prices stablised for a while after 2022 they are rising sharply now. Most of Europe has been under fog for three months.
Reeves, the finance bod, lied on her CV – substantially. Sackable offence, untrustworthy
The minister for Corruption was involved in … Corruption
The minister in charge of British Transport Police was a convicted fraudster
And we still aren’t being the whole story about Two Tier
“It follows calls for Sir Keir to appoint someone with meaningful Treasury or economic experience to No 10.”
Thought that was Rachel from customer service
So we’re basically paying for a Chancellor (Rachel-from-Accounts) who Two-Tier belatedly recognises can’t do the job …. so he’s appointed someone from the Treasury to instruct him/her.
All because he doesn’t dare sack “the first woman Chancellor ever …… smirk).