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.

It’s Starmer too though. He’s leading in this then all
the heat is piled on Reeves.

She’s not great but he’s accountable.

Sure, but he’s not going to set himself on fire to save her, is he? I guess she knows that now - but not much of a politician if she didn’t.

Chancellors usually have their eye on the main job. That’s never happening now.

Yep no chance. He is as craven as they come for a politician.

The only ‘personal’ issue she has, is that it’s suddenly dawned on her, that having a degree in economics and having worked as a Junior Analyst on the Japanese desk for a couple of years does not qualify you for being Chancellor. I can’t work out if it was arrogance or naivety that led her to believe she could do the job. Being Chancellor isn’t a role where you can ‘fake it, until you make it’.

She made such a huge fuss of her sheer brilliance, how she’s pioneering women and in just a year, has completely humiliated herself - she’s a proud woman and she knows the history books won’t be kind to her. That’s what she’s crying about.

I’m not entirely sure you can compare Rachel Reeves and Margaret Thatcher. I’m fairly certain MT’s tears were the result of shoving glass up her own nails

No I would think not. John Major was Chancellor, no degree. George Osborne, History. But they survived. Reeves did not understand what she had to do - the Treasury is full of economists. It did not need a chief economist

It was also decimated by the Lansley Act which sucked up millions that could have been used on frontline services and privatised swathes of it. Sorry you find the truth loathsome.

It's a pity she doesn't care about the people she was elected to represent. Her usual demeanour is an unpleasant, sneering tone. A thoroughly unpleasant individual.

I am not a Thatcher fan. But her tears were on the front of every newspaper at the time.

In fairness is takes empathy, compassion and emotion literacy, none of which were Hunts strong suit.

She is every bit as belligerent and bone-headed as Liz Truss, and equally economically illiterate. It’s not her personality but her policies that have been so disastrous, and her unwillingness to listen to sense when a bus could clearly have been driven through them. She’s a chancellor who has absolutely zero grasp of who and what drives growth FFS.

That assumes RR is crying for those reasons and not from self pity and humiliation.

There certainly was a lack of empathy for the electorate and those most in need in the recent policies.

Yes but you need to control your emotions at work. Cry behind closed doors with trusted colleagues.
I feel sorry for her but I don’t want people in powerful positions who can’t control their emotions in public ( unless it’s the death or serious illness of loved one in which case don’t be on the front line at work)

Any reduction in state support is going to be hard, no matter what group are involved. No one wants to lose something they perceive to get for nothing be that child benefit, WFA, disability benefits, UC, inheritance tax relief. Everyone wants something for nothing and there’s a host of imaginary people lining up to pay for it. Except there isn’t. Everyone believes their particular circumstances mean they are most vulnerable in any situation where costs need to be cut.

So really, unless you can’t tell me where you would make reductions in the welfare budget, which is over 23% of government spending, I’m not going to worry too much. The reality is everyone thinks they are most in need, everyone has reasons why their piece of the pie should remain intact, and everyone has someone else that should pay for it. No one has any concrete ideas about how we stop 50% of the population being reliant on the state.

I don't like Rachel Reeves. I think she is an exceedingly poor Chancellor and not terribly bright.

However, I won't condemn her for crying. She is but human. She's probably mortified about it on top of whatever upset her in the first place.

Source?

This is what happens when people with no business being near government get given the responsibility.

I'm not just referring to Reeves, but to the majority of our politicians who have no experience beyond their own spheres and despite their theoretic 'experience' having no grander context of what their decisions will mean beyond a book.

So, every single career politician can f**k off.

Will she be too late for this years I’m a celeb?

This is all lovely but life, especially in a high stakes role like the one she does, simply doesnt work that way.

High office demands a thick skin and nerves of steel, an unshakeable presence that says no matter how catastrophic the backdrop, I will get the job done.

Rachel Reeves is shaken, almost broken, that much was painfully clear and on a human level i empathise deeply - but therefore confidence in her ability to oversee the country's economy, and also the economy itself - is shaken. That is bad.

💫BrInG YoUr AuThEnTiC sElF💫 just
Does. Not. Work. Here.

Classic MN reading comprehension.
I did not say it didn’t to be done in some way. I said she and her colleagues lacked complete empathy in the way they did it.
I don’t need to tell you where I would make reductions because that’s not my job.
However, they have since managed to find a way of reducing spend on WFA without affecting those just above the pension credit level.

This has been done with a complete lack of empathy or forethought. Silly sound bites such as not taxing working people and then raising employer contribution NI - are people who run business not working people? And how could they possibly think it could not affect working people?
The spiteful rhetoric around private schools and their gilded paper, as if the pupils are not real children and their parents are not working tax payers.

They have been smug and unempathetic throughout.
Unfortunately, RR has come across as unprofessional- if it is a personal she should have excused herself from the commons. You don’t sit at a work meeting crying throughout.

I think that's more disturbing.

She didn't cry throughout. She looked as though she had been crying and she looked as though she was desperately trying not to cry.
I think it's possible to see one tear.
She didn't sit there blubbing.
I presume she was very upset and had to decide whether she should not appear or whether she could hold it together.
It's ridiculous to compare it to a work situation where you could just excuse yourself and leave the room.

Neither Reeves, Starmer, Kendal or their advisors have the required skills to successfully carry out their roles.

As you said getting all ‘A’ at Oxford in Economics isn’t necessary in their roles. They need strong leadership skills which none of them have.

They need a strategy and vision, and to be able to clearly communicate a narrative aligned to their vision. They just do ‘random stuff’. None of it seems to be for any overriding purpose so their own backbenchers and wider country are confused as to why they’ve chosen a particular action.

Who is setting strategy? Who is in charge of communications? Who is advising?

To add, I am not convinced her upset is related to politics - it’s such a tough game and they berate and shut each other down constantly. Any perceived weakness is exploited, so I find it hard to imagine she is crying about this u-turn or that her answers were too long.

If it is personal, then I do feel sorry for her but I still think of the personal stories I have read and heard about people crying with worry about their loss of WFA and PIP and the sympathy wanes a little.

She should get on with her job without her private problems getting in the way. If she can’t separate private and professional life then she should step down or take leave from her post. Imagine if a surgeon was blubbering, or a train driver etc If she’s not fit for work then she should get a doctor’s note and have time off.