𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Mystery surrounds Rachel Reeves’s tears. But one thing is clear – she didn’t get any support from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. And she should have done. She’s the one in the firing line.

The Chancellor gets the blame for many of the terrible decisions the Government has made over the past 12 months. And perhaps that’s fair, to some extent. She’s the second most important person in the Cabinet, after all.

However, at the top of the tree sits the Prime Minister. He is, ultimately, the one in charge. But Sir Keir didn’t offer his subordinate any support when she needed it most. Is it possible, perhaps, that he’s a terrible boss?

The Chancellor looked miserable when she sat down in the Commons Chamber for Prime Minister’s Questions. Even so, it came as a shock to onlookers when she actually started to cry.

What was behind it? Understandably, many people at Westminster assumed the pressure was getting to her. The Government this week committed a humiliating U-turn over proposed cuts to disability benefits, now scrapped, following an earlier partial reversal over cuts to winter fuel payments.

In both cases, the minister nominally in charge was Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, but it was known that Ms Reeves was actually the driving force behind the cuts.

So it would be understandable if she were feeling fragile on Wednesday. We all make mistakes, sometimes big ones, but few of us fail on such a huge scale in public.

There was even speculation that she might be facing the sack.

Later, officials said she was upset because of a personal matter, and refused to reveal the details. Well, if that’s true, then it’s even worse. Sir Keir must surely have known what the issue was.

So what happened? Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch – speaking before any suggestion that there was a personal issue – told the House of Commons Ms Reeves “is pointing at me, she looks absolutely miserable”.

She added: “Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the Chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”

Sir Keir could very easily have said some words to support his Chancellor. He chose not to, responding instead: “She [Mrs Badenoch] certainly won’t. I have to say, I’m always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”

Mrs Badenoch replied: “How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

And she’s right. Why did Sir Keir not say a few words of support for a colleague?

Is it, perhaps, because the Tory leader is right, and Rachel Reeves is going to take the blame for the Government’s recent humiliations?

If so, we should not let Sir Keir off the hook. He’s always had the final say.