Rachel Reeves was widely criticised on Friday 21 November after she suggested her critics were ‘mansplainers’. That comment was far from her worst, however, as Reeves also admitted taking advice from former Conservative chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
On the very same day, Keir Starmer was blaming Labour’s current unpopularity on the mess they inherited from 14 years of Tory misrule.
In other words, Labour are seeking advice from the Tories on how to fix the Tories’ mess.
Rachel Reeves—all over the shop
As noted, Reeves spoke out against ‘mansplainers’ in an interview with the Times. This resulted in many women accusing her of using feminism as a shield for her bad decisions:
Feminism is when you can’t criticise the Chancellor of the Exchequer. pic.twitter.com/4iNQ8dSkUY
— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) November 21, 2025
“An egregious abuse of the language of feminism.”
Rachel Reeves is ‘sick of being mansplained to’, but @AyoCaesar has little sympathy for her. pic.twitter.com/9TV62yjGR4
— LBC (@LBC) November 21, 2025
As reported by the Times, Rachel Reeves clearly doesn’t have a problem with all men:
She sometimes turns to Jeremy Hunt, the former Tory chancellor, for advice and support. The two bonded when she was his shadow in opposition.
We’re sorry, but Labour politicians should not be ‘bonding’ with their Tory counterparts over policy discussions. We’d maybe accept rival politicians bonding over an obscure hobby, but even then we’d expect them to meet in public if they wanted to avoid the accusation that they were in political cahoots.
The Times added:
For all their political differences, Hunt likes Reeves. “Like me, Rachel Reeves is finding that being a chancellor can be a very lonely job indeed,” he said.
“Despite our policy differences I do think ultimately she is a nice person trying to do a difficult job to the best of her ability. To anyone who wants her to go, I would just say be careful about what you wish for. There could be something a lot more scary around the corner.”
This reminds us of the famous Margaret Thatcher quote:
In 2002, twelve years after Margaret Thatcher left office, she was asked at a dinner what was her greatest achievement. Thatcher replied: “Tony Blair and New Labour.” pic.twitter.com/eSG5XMbxXZ
— The Agitator (@Agitate4Change) July 1, 2022
Thatcher liked Blair because he continued her neoliberal legacy; Hunt no doubt likes Rachel Reeves for the same reason.
Embarrassing
On the same day that Reeves was admitting to taking notes from a Tory, her boss Keir Starmer was saying this:
We won an election last year on the manifesto that said we would change the country after 14 years of failure
I always said that would take time because you can’t turn around 14 years of failure in just 12 months or 16 months.
In that same interview, Starmer argued that voters have judged his government too soon. Knowing that the Treasury is taking advice from Jeremy Hunt, however, it seems like voters haven’t judged Labour enough.
Featured image via Standard
By Willem Moore
This post was originally published on Canary.