It is at times like this – with Rachel Reeves visibly crying in the Commons – that we must be thankful that Jacinda Ardern, former New Zealand PM, who dedicated her recent memoir to “the criers, worriers and huggers” is absent from our politics. Had Jacinda been on the scene yesterday, she would undoubtedly have hugged the Chancellor in the actual Commons chamber because the politics of empathy is her thing. And it’s that notion – the more emotion in politics the better – which I think we should see off right now.
It is forgivable for the Chancellor to cry. It’s a human trait. Whether she was tearful because of a spat with the Speaker, or because of a standoff with Angela Rayner about welfare or because the PM didn’t seem terribly confident about her future is anyone’s guess. Certainly she told the Speaker that she had been “under a lot of pressure”, which is something of an understatement. Lots of her colleagues hate her, or rather, her perceived fiscal rectitude – a difference in approach which surfaced dramatically during the debate about welfare reform. Few business leaders feel warmly about her after her imposition of national insurance increases. Most political commentators think she’s toast – the PM’s assurances that she’ll be Chancellor for years to come shouldn’t deceive anyone. Her tough stance on budgetary discipline has been undermined; her fiscal headroom is gone after the collapse of the welfare reforms. Given all the above, it’s small wonder she cried.
