Rachel Reeves crying in the House of Commons

[IdaGlossop]

AIBU to think it's possible to feel sympathy for Rachel Reeves for being visibly upset at Prime Minister's Question Time today, even if you revile Labour and its policies?

Lots of misogyny on Twitter - the UK is a laughing stock because of the behaviour of menopausal women in the Commons (including an example of Stella Creasy with her baby in a sling asleep and another of Angela Rayner flashing); women can't hack it etc etc.

I can only imagine it must feel dreadful to know the world has watched you in distress and that the financial markets have reacted because of fears of government instability. The phrase 'bring your whole self to work' is a piece of HR speak I can't abide but what we saw today was Rachel Reeves doing just that. Despite my sympathy for her, it would have been better all round for the upset part of her to have stayed in her Downing Street flat.

Maybe. Doesn’t matter though does it- something has pushed her to such a state of stress and anxiety that she has cried on a public stage, and that is a horrible thing to happen to anyone. Impossible to do her job well - she’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t on any decisions. People being glad she cried or glad she is upset - it’s beyond my comprehension.

She has made poor decisions and not given a shit.
she can cry me a river!

Absolutely agree.

Last week, we had a PM who by his own admission was 'too distracted' to focus on the welfare bill and we now have a chancellor who is clearly unable to perform adequately in the job. That's hugely concerning.

I also feel sorry for RR. Difficult stuff to watch. Even without knowing if there’s anything purely personal in the background.

But, if there isn’t any personal issue, and a barney with the Speaker isn’t a ‘personal issue’, then I’m afraid that a need for thick skin comes with the very powerful, very high profile job she’s in. In those circumstances criticism of her lack of resilience is nothing to do with misogyny.

I suspect we’ll find out that Starmer has kicked the confidence and spirit out of her. He’s so appallingly ambitious and yet so woefully talentless it’s horrible to see.

RR crying?

Big deal, boo hoo..... She's a serial liar - lied on her CV, lied about her jobs, lied about her work history and hasnt a clue how the economy works. And now its all coming undone - on HER watch. Incompetence in full display for all to see.

Quicker she is sacked off the better. Not that any replacement would be an improvement.

Out of her depth, out of tricks and out of time. Like all politicians, she can get to fuck.

Might be nice if Matt Hancock cried about the old people who died following his COVID decisions.

Yes agree on Starmer. Plus he’s so awful to women, see PMQs

It's vanishingly rare for me to say anything good about Johnson, but his sleeping around didn't risk casting thousands of vulnerable people into poverty.

She’s caused that exact state of tears to others. I know someone who works at a private school. A few staff have been made redundant (VAT/NI) and were crying in school. The person I know hasn’t been made redundant, but has had to sign a new contract agreeing to more hours (was already more than full time). All due to Rachel Reeves and her VAT/NI bashing of that sector. When we literally see people we know with job losses in tears, I don’t know why we would be expected to feel sorry for RR. Even if she gets kicked out of the cabinet, she’ll still be an MP and have a job - unlike the teachers who were just told that they’ll have to fuck off as the school has no money to pay them with.

Remember when he cried when the first Covid jab was given? Nobody believed him.

This. She’s hurt people a lot.

Personally I feel sympathy for her, but she has to resign. You can’t cry on the front bench, male or female, you just can’t. Particularly not the chancellor or the PM. Her literal job is to inspire confidence.

i have a senior leadership position at work and I don’t believe it would be appropriate for me to cry in front of my team. That’s not to say I’m confident it will never happen - maybe it will - but if it ever does it will be a serious fuck up. (And me crying doesn’t have the power to influence the markets!)

Who has set up there narratives of weak women and their emotions and if you are a woman why are you reinforcing them?

Evidently the first thread full of utterly foul comments wasn't enough for some posters.

You can always hide threads.

These not "there"

You can have your perfectly valid opinion, but she is representing us on the world stage. She’s not in some random workplace. She’s our fucking chancellor. Macron got smashed in the face by his own wife and carried on like nothing had happened.

womp
womp

I’ll reserve judgement slightly as it may have been a genuine personal matter. If so, and if it was bad enough that she was in tears and clearly emotional, she surely shouldn’t have entered the chamber. We don’t know whether she was made to go in though.

Assuming it isn’t an awful personal matter, I’m finding it difficult to find sympathy for someone who has shown not even a shred of compassion for those who have been affected by her policies. With the school VAT, she has positively relished in the upset she has caused. She hasn’t shown any compassion towards business owners, farmers, pensioners etc. Whilst I understand the country needs to make savings, she hasn’t done it in a nice way.

If, as the media are reporting, this stems from a run-in with Hoyle, I’m afraid I think the Chancellor of this country needs to be seen as a strong figure who is in control of the situation. The appearance at today’s PMQs cannot fill anyone with confidence, and the markets reflected that. To have the person in charge of this country’s finances in tears at being reprimanded and challenged is ridiculous. Again, none of us know the full story though.

Ok, I feel a bit sorry for her - It can’t have been a pleasant experience for her not being able to contain her emotions on such a public platform for all the world to see and have the humiliation of your boss not confirming that you will still be in post come the next election. However, I feel more sorry for the people who have been affected by the budget and those who are worried about further tax rises. I don’t understand why some posters think she can’t come under scrutiny just because she’s a woman and are saying it’s down to misogyny.

Foul people do tend to attract foul comments,

I take a different view. I think it's brave to turn up to work and try to carry on when you've got difficult stuff going on in the background. I think it's vile to say 'I'm glad she was crying' etc. Some really unpleasant posts on here.

Actually I also thought of Diane Abbot and even mention to adult son she had never done this - though no Labour supporter myself.

The background is a really tough work situation. It’s not as if Labour will put out a statement saying she’s crying due to that.