Sir Keir Starmer backed Rachel Reeves on Thursday as she came under pressure over inaccuracies in her CV and her use of expenses in a previous job. The Prime Minister believes the Chancellor can be trusted and has no concerns about her conduct, Number 10 said amid scrutiny of Ms Reeves career in banking before she became an MP. Ms Reeves has updated her job history on professional networking site LinkedIn to reflect she worked at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for longer than she had previously said.
The Chancellor’s page had previously suggested her stint at the Bank of England, which she has previously referenced to reinforce her credentials, lasted months longer than it now says. Her use of expenses during her time working for HBOS was also subject to an internal investigation, according to the BBC, but a spokesperson for Ms Reeves has claimed she was not aware of the probe. A lawyer for the Chancellor, who is MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, has also said she was not subject to “allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct” during her career in retail banking.
Asked whether Ms Reeves could be trusted on Thursday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Yes, the Chancellor is working with the whole of Cabinet deliver the Plan for Change. “Figures out this morning showed growth numbers coming in higher than expected… we’re still not satisfied with this level of growth, and that’s why we’re determined to go further and faster in delivering the economic growth and improvement to living standards that the country needs.”.
Asked whether it would be right to say the Prime Minister does not have any concerns about Ms Reeves’ conduct, he said: “Correct.”. Responding to the update to her LinkedIn profile to reflect the changed date of her work with HBOS, a spokesperson for the Chancellor said: “As Rachel said on Good Morning Britain a couple of weeks ago when she was asked, she worked as an economist at the Bank of England between 2000 and 2006, including over a year at the British Embassy in Washington working in the economics section, and then she worked at HBOS from 2006 to 2009.
“She’s proud of the jobs she did and experience she gained before becoming a Member of Parliament.”. The BBC reported HBOS had opened an investigation into the spending culture of the department at the bank where Ms Reeves worked. A whistleblower complained she and two senior colleagues’ use of expenses was excessive, according to the broadcaster. Ms Reeves’ spokesperson said she was “not aware of an investigation nor was she interviewed, and she did not face any disciplinary action on this or any other matters”.
They added: “All expenses were submitted and signed off in the proper way. “Several former colleagues from her time at the bank, including HBOS’ former HR business partner, have corroborated this account. “Rachel left HBOS in 2009 on good terms.”. David Sorensen, the lawyer who represented her as she left the bank, said her exit was “a standard-style agreement adopted by the company when a mutually agreed exit was made during the bank’s restructure”.
Mr Sorensen, a managing partner at Morrish Solicitors, said: “My clear understanding at the time was that my client, who was in a senior role, left on good terms when HBOS plc was acquired in 2009, as evidenced by the payments made to her, the retention of her company car and other benefits for a six-month period, and a favourable reference. “Absolutely no allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct were mentioned by the HBOS HR team during this process.”.
Jane Wayper, former HR business partner for HBOS who worked alongside Ms Reeves, also said she did not recognise any of the claims about her former colleague. In a statement, she added: “In my role, I would have been made aware of any investigation which concluded there was a case to answer. “I would have been required to organise and oversee a disciplinary process. This did not happen.”. In November, Downing Street defended Ms Reeves’s record of being “straight with the public” over the nation’s finances amid other claims about her CV.
Newspapers had contested Ms Reeves’s claim in an interview with Stylist magazine in 2021 that she had spent a decade at the Bank of England when her LinkedIn account described it as a six-year period between 2000 and 2006. There was also a reported change to her LinkedIn profile, which lists her “Retail Banking” role at Halifax. Ms Reeves’ profile lists her work history from September 2000 onwards. It covers her time as an economist at the Bank of England as well as her role at Halifax.
