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Original poster

to believe Rachel Reeves was crying because

817 replies

LargeDeviation · 02/07/2025 19:44

  1. she was upset when Lindsay Hoyle told her to keep her answers short

  2. she had an argument with Keir Starmer (possibly about her keeping her job, or about how to handle the inevitable questions about the new £5.5bn per annum black hole) just before PMQs

  3. Keir Starmer refused to say she would keep her job in front of the whole country. If he genuinely wanted her to stay, he would just say 'of course she's going to still be Chancellor' and that would be that.

  4. she is under immense pressure because she knows she will have soon to breach her fiscal rules, she knows she is responsible for many of the decisions that will lead to that, and she knows the how serious the consequences of her failure will be. We have seen recently (even just today) how vicious the bond market can be.

In short, I believe she was crying because of professional pressures (understandable ones, though largely of her own making, and about which I have little sympathy) and not nebulous 'personal' reasons.

If her parent or partner or child or grandparent or pet is ill the natural thing is to just say 'sorry, a close relative is in hospital and my emotions got the better of me'. Everybody would understand. You don't need huge reams of evidence but you need to give the bare bones of an explanation. She is trying to style it out but we can all see through it.

I will apologise if I'm wrong but long experience shows that 'personal reasons' almost always means 'I'm skiving or jobhunting' when a colleague in the workplace uses it to excuse their time off.

I believe it means even less when uttered by a politican.

OP posts:
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6
ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 02/07/2025 21:17

244milesnorth · 02/07/2025 20:05

i don’t like the woman’s policies but she looked absolutely broken today I almost didn’t recognise her

she has been made a scapegoat for this crap labour government and don’t get me started on the misogynistic and insulating “Rachel from accounts” comments which sought to pull her down the minute she got into office

She looked exhausted, and like she’s been crying for days.

MyNameIsX · 02/07/2025 21:17

PandoraSocks · 02/07/2025 21:10

Well they are not going anywhere, are they? Not for four years, whether you like it or not.

I agree Reeves should go, though I took no pleasure in seeing her distress today.

Show quote history

That’s a pretty brave prediction, on your part.

Cheap words. I very much doubt you would be prepared to place your hard-earned behind it.

I will happily take the other side of that wager. We can do a bilateral trade. Happy to work out the specifics via DM.

Let me know (seriously).

placemats · 02/07/2025 21:17

MyNameIsX · 02/07/2025 21:14

A Tory/Reform ticket would work, right now.

They would care no more, no less than this Labour Govt.

Show quote history

What utter nonsense and you know it.

PauliesWalnuts · 02/07/2025 21:17

I’m a civil servant and my colleagues have been working with HMT on the Spending Review for months. It’s been stressful as hell and the times when colleagues from HMT have been in my meetings, they’ve looked ready to drop on their knees. They’ve gone from the budget to the SR to this - she, like her colleagues, is probably absolutely exhausted. Give her a break.

Switcher · 02/07/2025 21:17

DiamondThrone · 02/07/2025 20:08

There's a really weird moment where Kemi asks if Rachel Reeves will still be in place at the next election, as Keir previously said she would. And Keir points a bit at Kemi - very hard to see - and says "She certainly won't". I think he was talking about Kemi, but it's a weird Freudian slip.

It's from 11:10 here, on the Parliament official YouTube channel:

Edited

The use of the third person when addressing the opposition in parliamentary questions is convention though, so in that context it didn't seem weird to me.

lifeonmars100 · 02/07/2025 21:16

Muffsies · 02/07/2025 20:08

I don't care why she was crying. She got emotional, like normal human beings do.

She wasn't lying to us (boris), she wasn't sleeping (mogg), she wasn't looking at porn (parish), she didn't have a temper tantrum (multiple).

There are way more concerning things for me to worry about right now. Why is this on AIBU??

or off to the jungle like Nadine Dorries.

Toastandbutterand · 02/07/2025 21:16

Im always surprised by how many people watch pmqs when everyone says they don't watch it.

It looked to me like she had a tooth infection.

She didn't look broken, just in physical pain.

Viviennemary · 02/07/2025 21:15

She shouldn't have appeared. Crying wasn't a good look. And now speculation

luckylavender · 02/07/2025 21:15

@Meadowfinch- what’s it like being perfect? Have you ever been caught in the eye of a media storm?

Snapespeare · 02/07/2025 21:14

She also carries the weight of expectation in being the first female chancellor and of being from a working class background - her parents were primary teachers. Any failure on her part unfairly reflects on other working class girls.

I don't agree with the majority of her decisions, but I can conjure up some empathy for the position she finds herself in, some of it if her own making, quite a lot of it from Starmers ability to flip flop around and undermine her decisions (as much as the PM undermines the Chancellor, he is the PM.)

MyNameIsX · 02/07/2025 21:14

TwoFeralKids · 02/07/2025 21:07

And who will come in? Reform? Do you think they will care about the disabled?

Show quote history

A Tory/Reform ticket would work, right now.

They would care no more, no less than this Labour Govt.

Sarahconnor1 · 02/07/2025 21:14

The problem is Reeves isn't just anybody having a bad day. She is Chancellor of the Exchequer so crying on live TV has a massive impact. The bonds market slumped as did the pound and the stock market because there is a lack of trust in her position.

On a human level it was horrible to watch, and this isn't just one her. Someone should have told her to sit this PMQs out.

placemats · 02/07/2025 21:13

TheNuthatch · 02/07/2025 20:39

How insensitive. Perhaps spare a thought for what the disabled have been through recently before you get the party poppers out?

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You would see only those who are 'deserving' as getting pip and even then you'd have your own personal doubts, because they are able to talk.

Mmhmmn · 02/07/2025 21:13

CircusofPuffins · 02/07/2025 20:08

Whatever the truth, she does look shocking. The eyebags look like someone who has not slept more than a couple of hours for weeks.

I genuinely have no idea why people aspire to hold these important positions in politics. By the time it's all over, they all look a shell of their former selves, thoroughly worn out and broken down. Who wants to put themselves through that?!

I think you’re bang on - she hasn’t slept properly seeing those eye maga that are not normally there, and today’s events with Hoyle and PMQs were the straws that broke the camel’s back. Inevitable when sleep deprived.

IwasDueANameChange · 02/07/2025 21:12

Poor woman has probably not slept in about a week. God I'd more than cry.

luckylavender · 02/07/2025 21:12

LargeDeviation · 02/07/2025 19:44

  1. she was upset when Lindsay Hoyle told her to keep her answers short

  2. she had an argument with Keir Starmer (possibly about her keeping her job, or about how to handle the inevitable questions about the new £5.5bn per annum black hole) just before PMQs

  3. Keir Starmer refused to say she would keep her job in front of the whole country. If he genuinely wanted her to stay, he would just say 'of course she's going to still be Chancellor' and that would be that.

  4. she is under immense pressure because she knows she will have soon to breach her fiscal rules, she knows she is responsible for many of the decisions that will lead to that, and she knows the how serious the consequences of her failure will be. We have seen recently (even just today) how vicious the bond market can be.

In short, I believe she was crying because of professional pressures (understandable ones, though largely of her own making, and about which I have little sympathy) and not nebulous 'personal' reasons.

If her parent or partner or child or grandparent or pet is ill the natural thing is to just say 'sorry, a close relative is in hospital and my emotions got the better of me'. Everybody would understand. You don't need huge reams of evidence but you need to give the bare bones of an explanation. She is trying to style it out but we can all see through it.

I will apologise if I'm wrong but long experience shows that 'personal reasons' almost always means 'I'm skiving or jobhunting' when a colleague in the workplace uses it to excuse their time off.

I believe it means even less when uttered by a politican.

Tittle tattle

Dorisbonson · 02/07/2025 21:11

InWithPeaceOutWithStress · 02/07/2025 20:34

It’s really depressing how much politicians and ministers get hounded and attacked. Imagine if we lived in a world where people were able to debate policy without descending into these personal attacks. I think a lot of misogyny is at play here.

If your policies cause the the loss of billions of pounds a year of tax revenue as you crash the economy and tax payers leave the country then some attacks are inevitable.

If you lie about your CV and you take one of the most important jobs in the country then some personal attacks relating to those lies are also inevitable.

She has sewn the seeds of her own misery. It sad to see someone upset but given her lies and the tens of billions she has cost the UK shedding a few years is probably appropriate.

PandoraSocks · 02/07/2025 21:10

MyNameIsX · 02/07/2025 21:06

FFS.

It’s very much our business - many of us have suffered owing to her incompetence. The personal issue line is horse shit - we all know it.

The sooner she goes, and this abomination of a ‘government’ follow her, the better.

Look at the damage they have caused in 12 months.

Show quote history

Well they are not going anywhere, are they? Not for four years, whether you like it or not.

I agree Reeves should go, though I took no pleasure in seeing her distress today.

Maddy70 · 02/07/2025 21:10

MyNameIsX · 02/07/2025 21:06

FFS.

It’s very much our business - many of us have suffered owing to her incompetence. The personal issue line is horse shit - we all know it.

The sooner she goes, and this abomination of a ‘government’ follow her, the better.

Look at the damage they have caused in 12 months.

Show quote history

Don't be ridiculous. I was a head teacher in the the middle of an assembly and broke down in tears. It was super embarrassing. Kids and parents were talking about it for years afterwards. I had just been told my dad had a very serious illness and I overhead a triggering word that started me off and I had no control over. Every single human being has the right to feel emotion

RatherTardy · 02/07/2025 21:09

This reply has been deleted

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This all day long.

The op's speculation is vile and in very poor taste

Lovemycat2023 · 02/07/2025 21:09

Her eyes looked like she had been crying for a long term, like you do when you’ve had a bereavement or similar. Not just like she starting crying in parliament. I’ve no idea whether it’s personal or work, but it definitely didn’t start at lunchtime today.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 02/07/2025 21:09

This reply has been deleted

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The same empathy that she hasn't shown to the poor sick and disabled. I think I'll save my pity for the many parents out there who probably cry themselves to sleep every night panicking about how they're going to feed their kids. Let's face RR is never going to see a poor day, is he.

Nowimhereandimlost · 02/07/2025 21:08

It's nice to see some humanity from our politicians tbh, they're not all sociopaths. They're in an impossible situation, the current challenges facing the country are immense. Changes need to be made but no one seems to be able to make them. I fear for our democratic system. I'd probably cry too if I were her.

justasking111 · 02/07/2025 21:08

TwoFeralKids · 02/07/2025 21:07

And who will come in? Reform? Do you think they will care about the disabled?

Show quote history

Do you think any of them do?

TwoFeralKids · 02/07/2025 21:07

MyNameIsX · 02/07/2025 21:06

FFS.

It’s very much our business - many of us have suffered owing to her incompetence. The personal issue line is horse shit - we all know it.

The sooner she goes, and this abomination of a ‘government’ follow her, the better.

Look at the damage they have caused in 12 months.

Show quote history

And who will come in? Reform? Do you think they will care about the disabled?