Rachel Reeves appeared to be crying during Prime Minister’s Questions as Sir Keir Starmer failed to guarantee that she would remain in her role as Chancellor.
Downing Street said in January this year that Ms Reeves would stay in her position for the duration of Labour’s five years in power.
However, the PM failed to repeat the promise when he was grilled by Kemi Badenoch in the House of Commons.
The Tory leader took aim at Ms Reeves as she labelled the Chancellor a “human shield” for Sir Keir’s “incompetence” over his handling of the welfare Bill debacle.
The Chancellor could be seen wiping tears from her face during PMQs although the exact reason why was not immediately clear.
Mrs Badenoch asked Sir Keir to repeat the commitment made by Downing Street about the Chancellor’s future.
The Tory leader said: “She looks absolutely miserable. She looks absolutely miserable. 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?”
Referring to Mrs Badenoch, Sir Keir said: “She certainly won’t. I have to say I am 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 then noted that Sir Keir had not guaranteed his Chancellor’s future.
“How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she will stay in place,” she said.
Accoording to the Telegraph, a spokesperson for the Chancellor said after PMQs that Ms Reeves was dealing with a “personal matter”.
They said: “It’s a personal matter, which – as you would expect – we are not going to get into. The Chancellor will be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.”
Downing Street insisted after PMQs that Ms Reeves was “going nowhere” and retained the Prime Minister’s “full backing”.
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