to believe Rachel Reeves was crying because

[LargeDeviation]

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.

Badenoch knew. She reads the papers. She's like a smarmy male comedian on steroids.

Reeves is a competent politician. She had a brief to drive through and stood by it.

Sneer all you want from the bleachers of a losing side. FOUR MORE YEARS 🎈

That was Liz Truss that spooked the markets. Are you allowed out on your own?

@Bluebellwood129 of course we want a competent CofE. We have not seen this for years. Maybe rather than wait for her to produce a magic wand, we could allow some time to correct several years of shite.

We are all on the losing side. It’s not a football match FFS. How old are you?

Not a chance. She'll be gone well before that. Let's sit back and enjoy the show. It's hilarious. Not sure what you mean by losing side - do you think I'm a Tory voter or on benefits by any chance? I'm actually one of the top 2% of earners Reeves is desperate to retain in the UK.

We could give Reeves decades and she would still be utterly clueless. the woman is economically incompetent.

Old enough to know better. You? Keep up the vitriol, just another 1460 days to go.

@Bluebellwood129 as you are so well informed, please share how CofEs in the last government (which was several years-so loads of opportunities) really boosted the UK economy?

Yours are the nineteenth and twentieth comments. That's not a lot of men, not a lot of women, not even a lot of men plus women.

I feel for RR, a bit out of her depth and exposed to all kinds of misogyny, I wouldn't wish it on any one but trying to shoehorn that comment into the thread before it has even got started is barking

I thought Kemi was rather good today. Reeves misrepresented herself on her CV and went on to tank the economy. She made herself into a target for Badenoch.

Fuck her.

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.

she Was having a bad hair day literally

Yes. I mean how dare she be human and cry? We don't know why she cried. IMO someone crying (even at work 9 doesn't stop them being professional.

It is absolutely our business, given she is running the finances of our country and appears to be incapable of doing the job.

It is unprofessional and completely strips the crier of authority. They appear weak and unable to cope, so confidence is lost. It shows a lack of personal judgment and clarity. It’s completely unacceptable given the ructions it can cause in the financial markets,, and will end up costing the country dearly.

i fully expect her to resign today. As she should.

The issue now isn’t Reeves resigning but who on earth will replace her? The Labour Party have no intellectual heavy weights or anyone obvious that can take on such an important role. I have never seen a party so lacking. The markets are more worried about this issue. We can’t afford to have another dud at the wheel.

I understand that many many people disagree with me, but I believe that crying in the workplace is totally unprofessional and unacceptable

I used to work for a Director who cried every time something happened which challenged her. So .....a few times a week. Did my head in

White woman cries and the black women should suffer for it. Why are some of you trying to turn this into a war against Kemi Badenoch? I guess when it comes to sympathy and support for women, that is only reserved for one group of women? Where is this so called sisterhood and solidarity?

Rachel cries, let's feel sorry for her and let's turn on Kemi Badenoch. I do not like the latter, really can't stand her but what is going on here with the tears of Rachel turning into a bash Kemi?

Hilarious yet pathetiic how so many Tory supporters are concerned about a very small increase in yields, 4.5 to 4.6..... yet had nothing at all to say when yields went from around 1% to 4.5% with their choice of PM, Liz Truss.....

...and have stayed there ever since... despite getting rid of her.

I have awoken feeling brimful, for the first time in a while.

Why so cheerful? Well, this might just be the beginning of the end for our illustrious government - with luck, it will prove another ‘good news’ day.

Let’s see how Starmer and Reeves respond to a little dial up of the pressure, shall we?

They clearly don’t like it up em, as the saying goes.

GCSE Economics, right there.

The issue is that Reeves isn’t up to the job, and Labour have an intellectual deficit so can not find anyone suitable to replace her..,,

The markets will become very jumpy and fractious if this is not sorted out very very quickly. Adding even more pressure to a volatile situation. This could swiftly escalate and needs containing.

Stephen Kerr’s statement was political point scoring and bland.
If he really was concerned about Rachel reeves then he should have said nothing publicly and reached out to her privately.

personal reasons: she should have excused herself from PMQ. I thought it was good to talk, there would be less speculation and rumours if she was open about her struggles if they are genuine and not linked to getting into trouble for giving long answers and having to do another u turn.

Kier Starmer was right not to publicly acknowledge her distress in front of the whole House of Commons (he discretely asked her if she was ok before the start).

Yields will drop back over this because the fundamentals of the economy have not changed nor has policy, in fact they have started to already...

The UK owes over 2 trillion, its productivity poor, the failure to achieve just 5 billion in savings changes nothing for the markets.

There are plenty who could replace her but i feel, you don't give a shit about the UK, let alone borrowing costs, its about point scoring.