𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Rachel Reeves has said she will not apologise for crying at Prime Minister’s Questions. The Chancellor was tearful during PMQs in the Commons last July as Sir Keir Starmer refused to guarantee that she would remain in post until the next general election.

Ms Reeves later insisted that she was upset due to personal reasons, and Downing Street clarified hours later that she had the Prime Minister’s “full backing” and was “going nowhere”. She has now spoken out about the incident in a Q&A with the Mumsnet website.

Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts put a series of questions to the Chancellor, including one which asked: “Hi Rachel, you were pictured crying at PMQs last year, and that must have been a stressful time for you.

“Do you now regret that incident or do you feel that people should be less judged for showing often understandable emotions in the workplace?”

Ms Reeves said: “Well, I regret going to PMQs — but you know, if I’d have known that was going to happen, obviously I wouldn’t have gone.

“I expect most of your Mumsnet users would have had a day at work when they felt overcome with emotion for whatever reason.

“I guess the difference in my job is that the TV cameras are on when that happens. So I’m not going to apologise for crying. I don’t think people should do that.

“But I think next time I feel like doing that, I’ll stay in the office.”

Ms Roberts then asked: “Do you lie awake at night kicking yourself for going?”

Ms Reeves laughed and replied: “I’ve got enough things to worry about at the moment – there’s the conflict in the Middle East rather than pictures of me looking a little bit upset.”