‘It won’t take as long as people think’: Rachel Reeves on being ‘scrappy’ – and changing Britain

‘The Treasury has an enterprise and growth unit that’s been degraded’: shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in Swindon last week. Photograph: Sam Frost/The Guardian

One of Rachel Reeves’s colleagues texted her the other day, asking for advice before a big interview. She wanted tips on how to deal with a broadcaster who had rather obviously annoyed the shadow chancellor by trying to ­patronise her about economics.

“Just remember we’re doing these jobs because we’ve worked really hard and fought for this,” Reeves told her fellow Labour frontbencher. “We weren’t born with a silver spoon in our mouths … I’ve spent my whole life trying to prove myself and to show I’m as good as any private school person.”