By Editorial
Few people will not have been briefly touched seeing tears roll down Rachel Reeves’ face yesterday. ​The Chancellor of the Exchequer is under immense political pressure. Her backbenchers have made reform of the UK’s bloated welfare bill all but impossible, when demands for benefits will only grow in an ageing society. The Labour government has pledged to spend more on defence. Vast billions are being spent on untouchable public sector workplace pensions. And immigration is still out of control, adding further financial pressure on an administration that won’t tell illegal migrants if you come here illegally you will get nothing, let alone free housing. Her task is impossible, but her party made it so. After serious Tory failures to get to grips with these matters, Keir Starmer is making it all worse, having to bend to naive MPs. Debt is so bad now, and growing, that a full-blown financial crisis is possible. So Ms Reeves’ situation is an unhappy one. But however poignant it was to see her becoming emotional, she was not shy of ruthless politics herself. She sneered and sneered at the Conservatives, yet Rishi Sunak – one of her predecessors at the helm of the Treasury – was a man of far greater talent. She exaggerated her CV while continuing to hector and talk as if it was all easy and the preceding government were the idiotic ones. Very few people are capable of a job as demanding as chancellor. The brilliant Nigel Lawson once implied that John Major was not even up to the number two job at the Treasury, let alone the top. The sad truth is that Ms Reeves is not either. And while we all find it annoying to see people promoted above their abilities in all walks of life, it is often rather tragic when you see the person in place. It is embarrassing when they do not know they are failing, and perhaps even worse when they do.