RACHEL Reeves reportedly told a Scottish business to “talk to me with respect, I’m the Chancellor”.
The Chancellor, who is set to unveil her second Budget next week after weeks of chaotic briefing on tax rises, challenged a local businessperson during a visit to Scotland in August, the Financial Times reports.
In a lengthy profile of Reeves, the reporter recounts joining her on a trip to the St Fergus North Sea gas terminal on the Aberdeenshire coast.
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Afterwards, the Chancellor was challenged “robustly” by “local business leaders” over tea and sandwiches.
She is said to have glared at one of the businesspeople gathered, telling them: “Talk to me with respect. I’m the Chancellor of the Exchequer.”
Reeves has faced criticism in recent weeks after UK Government sources briefed the press that Labour were set to raise income tax to plug holes in their spending plans.
But this was backtracked in subsequent briefings after the gap was £10 billion smaller than expected, sparking a bonds sell off.
Elsewhere, the profile includes Reeves musing about “why it is so hard to be yourself in public”, adding: “It’s an interesting question and one I don’t really know the answer to.”
Reeves has faced accusations of plagiarism and over-egging parts of her CV in the past.
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In October 2023, she was accused by the Financial Times of having lifted entire paragraphs of her book The Women Who Made Modern Economics from other sources.
It was claimed that there were more than 20 examples of plagiarism from sources including Wikipedia.
It was revealed earlier this year that the Chancellor exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England.
Despite her previous claims to have worked at the central bank for almost a decade, it transpired that she had really only worked there for five and a half years, including nearly a year of studying.
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