In the past ten febrile days at Westminster, one Labour voice has been conspicuous by its absence in defence of the embattled Sir Keir Starmer.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ policies – such as axing the winter fuel allowance for 10 million pensioners – have been a major factor in Starmer’s record unpopularity ratings. But she has not once put her head above the parapet.
This week, while other Cabinet ministers dutifully took to the airwaves to defend Starmer as four ministers resigned and the number of MPs calling on him to go went above 90, there was not a word of support from the woman whose fortunes many believe – perhaps wrongly – are tied to his.
Instead, in her only tweet since Monday, Reeves said: ‘It was a pleasure to welcome Helen and Stephen from Truman Books in my constituency to Downing Street.’ The banality of the post prompted mirth and contempt in Labour circles.
However, I can reveal that the Chancellor would not be sorry to see the back of Starmer. I’m told she suspects he planned to punish her for her serial blunders in office by sacking her in a Cabinet reshuffle following the local elections. But, the results were so bad, he had no choice but to keep her in an attempt to stabilise his government.
The truth is that Reeves is a firm friend of the new pretender Wes Streeting and, I am told, would expect to play a key role in his administration. Indeed, last night, one senior Labour figure told me: ‘If Wes does make it to No 10, he will give her a big job and, knowing him, it’s probably going to be Foreign Secretary.’
The closeness of their bond was never more evident than in the hours after TV footage showed extraordinary close-ups of the Chancellor crying in the Commons as Starmer took Prime Minister’s Questions last July.
The Chancellor’s policies, writes Andrew Pierce, have been a major factor in Starmer’s record unpopularity ratings. But she has not once put her head above the parapet
Reeves is a firm friend of the new pretender Wes Streeting and, I am told, would expect to play a key role in his administration
Should Reeves’ loyalty to Streeting influence who gets top government jobs in a crisis?
A t a hastily organised drinks party in the Treasury that evening, Streeting was the Cabinet minister who did most to help Reeves cope with the fall-out, alongside her sister Ellie, a fellow government minister. The Chancellor’s husband Nick Joicey, a civil servant, was also there. And the next morning it was Streeting who she asked to go on the broadcast round to support her. ‘Rachel is here to stay,’ he chirped.
One of the Cabinet’s most accomplished media performers, Streeting argued passionately that Labour’s programme could not be delivered without her. ‘Rachel’s reputation for fiscal discipline is a massive asset.’
The political soulmates were united early on in their deep distaste of the hard-Left Jeremy Corbyn, who won the Labour leadership in 2015.
Reeves, who held the pensions brief in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet, went into self-imposed exile on the backbenches when the bearded socialist took over. Streeting, who worked to ensure he was marked out as a potential future leader when he arrived in parliament in 2015, also refused to serve on Corbyn’s frontbench.
They became key figures in Labour Together, a shadowy organisation run by Morgan McSweeney who was later to be become Starmer’s chief of staff.
McSweeney resigned in February over his role in pushing for Lord Mandelson to become ambassador to the US despite his well known links to the late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Reeves, Streeting and his fiance Joe Dancey were regulars at secret ‘Sunday suppers’ at the London home of Lord (Roger) Liddle, who worked in Downing Street in the early Blair years.
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Liddle is a close friend of Lord Mandelson, who also went to some of the dinners, as did McSweeney. Over dinner – invariably accompanied by a fine claret – I’m told they plotted how to wrest back the Labour Party from the Corbyn faction.
With Labour Together so pivotal in Starmer taking over from Corbyn, it was no surprise when Reeves and Streeting were named in his first shadow cabinet.
Their friendship did, however, come under strain in May 2022, after Starmer and his then deputy Angela Rayner pledged they would resign if a police investigation concluded they had broken the lockdown rules during the Covid pandemic in what was dubbed the ‘Beergate’ affair.
In the Commons, Streeting was overheard challenging Reeves: ‘Have you thought about what you’re going to do if the worst does happen?’ (ie. if Starmer was forced to resign.) Reeves replied: ‘Well, I don’t think it is going to happen.’ To which Streeting responded: ‘Well, I don’t either. But we do need to think about what happens in that scenario.’ Starmer and Rayner survived.
Streeting and Reeves continued to socialise together in the years that followed and, in 2023, at a Westminster lunch, she mocked his addiction to self-promotion noting barely a weekend passed without him appearing in a Sunday supplement.
‘If there is a journalist in this room who hasn’t heard Wes’s life story,’ she said, ‘don’t worry, he will be sure to send you a copy of his autobiography when it’s published in June.’
After her disastrous stint as Chancellor there are few Labour MPs who think Reeves could be a contender for party leader.
Streeting, I’m told, has assured Reeves he would stick to her fiscal rules if he becomes PM. He would also support making savings from the bloated welfare budget to boost defence spending to 3 per cent of national income.
In return, he can rely on her to lobby the Parliamentary sisterhood. ‘She’s close to a lot of female backbenchers who feel that she’s been badly treated by Keir,’ I’m told, ‘and, given that there are 190 of them, they represent an extremely powerful constituency.’
At the State Opening of Parliament yesterday Reeves was spotted laughing with Sir Mel Stride, her Tory opposite number, only minutes after reports emerged that Streeting had decided to run.
She has a lot to smile about. If Streeting does succeed in toppling the prime minister, he is certain to revive her status as Labour’s leading female Cabinet minister.
