Sir Keir Starmer has insisted Rachel Reeves will still be Chancellor at the next general election after initially failing to guarantee her long-term future.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Ms Reeves would be in her post “for the whole of this Parliament” despite failing to make the same promise about Yvette Cooper, her Cabinet colleague.
Ms Reeves is under mounting pressure over the state of the economy and public finances as the Government faces surging borrowing costs, with one Labour MP privately calling for her to be sacked.
After delivering a speech on artificial intelligence this morning, Sir Keir twice declined to directly answer the question of whether Ms Reeves would still be in her role at the next national poll.
His refusal to offer a guarantee on Ms Reeves’ future immediately set hares running in Westminster because Downing Street made a similar promise in relation to David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, in the recent past.
But later on Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “You heard from the Prime Minister this morning. He is very explicit he has full confidence in the Chancellor.
“He will be working with her in her role as Chancellor for the whole of this Parliament to grow the economy and deliver for working people.”
Asked why Sir Keir had not said the same earlier on Monday, the spokesman replied: “You heard from the Prime Minister. He was very clear that she’s doing a fantastic job. She has his full confidence.”
When asked about the future of Ms Cooper as Home Secretary, he said: “I’m not going to get into running through every member of Cabinet. The Prime Minister has appointed a Cabinet he thinks is the best Cabinet he thinks can deliver for the priorities of the British people.”
No 10 in November last year had promised that Mr Lammy would stay in his role for the whole of the five year parliament amid scrutiny of his past remarks about Donald Trump.
It came as one Labour MP said Sir Keir could only “restore confidence” by sacking Ms Reeves.
They said: “I personally have never been a strong supporter of Rachel Reeves. I don’t think she’s competent and I think the only way to start to restore confidence is with a new Chancellor.”
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