Londoner's Diary
Rachel Reeves, who wants to be our first female chancellor, packed out Carlton Gardens last night for the launch of her book, The Women Who Made Modern Economics. Sipping wine with the Westminster set, Reeves, above right, told us that she is not feeling the heat of competition from colleagues who also have books out.
Wes Streeting’s memoir has sold well. Could she beat him on the bestseller lists? “I’m not too bothered about that,” Reeves said of Streeting — or rather, Wesley. “I do call him Wesley, but only when I’m being cheeky,” she said. “Only when I’m reminding him about the importance of fiscal discipline!”
Her team said the book was “a personal project”, but confessed they had checked it for any unfunded spending commitments. It’s a shame they did not do the same for plagiarism — Reeves has admitted "inadvertent mistakes", after the FT made allegations of plagiarism this morning such as including chunks of Wikipedia without citation.
A Rachel please, says Vorderman
Parliamentary colleagues turned out to toast the shadow chancellor at her launch last night, among them her sister Ellie Reeves, also an MP, and about half of the shadow cabinet. But the Londoner could not help wondering where Sir Keir Starmer was. He is currently trying to calm his party, which risks tearing itself apart over the Gaza conflict. On his absence, a senior adviser sallied: “He’s busy running the Labour Party.” His chief of staff Sue Gray made a fleeting appearance.
One of Reeves’s most beaming supporters was maths whizz Carol Vorderman, formerly of Countdown, who added a bit of sparkle to proceedings. Who would win a game of Countdown, we asked, Reeves or Starmer? “Oh Rachel, certainly on the numbers. I’m not sure if she does the crossword.” And Rachel versus Rishi? “Rachel again, of course.” Vorderman says she and the shadow chancellor share a passion for getting more women into maths. But she also wants to help Reeves “get the Tories out”. Will she definitely vote Labour? “I’ll be voting tactically,” she said.
