03-07-2025
Why Rachel Reeves cannot keep her personal and political lives separate
Rachel Reeves and her team are adamant that they will not reveal the mysterious 'personal issue' that caused her to cry during Prime Minister's Questions.
She told reporters on Thursday she was 'not going into the details' of the matter, adding: 'It wouldn't be right or fair.'
To state the obvious, it is unusual and far from ideal for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to openly weep on television as the Prime Minister defends his record in office.
The scenes are a reminder that for a figure who, in her words, must get through her toughest days 'on the telly', separating personal and professional life is almost impossible.
Her husband, Nicholas Joicey, is a career civil servant currently working as the second permanent secretary in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
He is currently on a one-year secondment to Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government, after deciding last year to put some 'airspace' between himself and his wife in Westminster.
The couple met in Washington, DC, when she was working there on a secondment in the British Embassy in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks. It was one of Ms Reeves' first jobs in politics, after receiving her big break with a role at the Bank of England.
That job has since been the subject of controversy after it was revealed that she exaggerated the length of time she worked at the bank on her LinkedIn profile.
Mr Joicey previously served as the director general of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, which is one of the most important teams of civil servants in the government.
The couple ranked ninth on this year's list of 'power couples' by the news website Politico, behind Sir Keir and his wife who were placed seventh.
Ms Reeves has previously described her husband as 'supportive' of her political career and helped with childcare when she returned to work five months after having her second child.
Although she is now often private about her family, there have been glimpses of the woman behind the Iron Chancellor façade throughout her career.
In 2013, she shared a photo on her professional MP Twitter seemingly from her maternity bed, holding her newborn daughter Anna – now 12. Harold was born two years later, the birth also announced to thousands of constituents and colleagues on social media.
The family have a home in Dulwich, south London, which briefly appeared on the rental market after the election and moved into a grace-and-favour flat above 10 Downing Street.
She also has use of Dorneywood, the Chancellor's country residence in Buckinghamshire, and the pair own a house in her Leeds constituency.
Mr Joicey is, however, just one of the figures in Ms Reeves' personal life who also inhabit Westminster.
On Wednesday as she left the Commons chamber still visibly upset, she reached for the hand of her sister and walked with her to her parliamentary office.
Ellie Reeves, now the Labour Party chairman, is two years younger than the Chancellor and was elected seven years after her in 2017.
'It was our time growing up in the 1980s and 1990s that politicised both Ellie and me,' Ms Reeves told The Telegraph last year, admitting that she had 'not a political family at all, to be honest'.
In a joint interview with her sister Ellie, the younger Reeves described Rachel as 'more like a pushy parent' than a sibling, and had made her do her homework when they were students in Beckenham. Their parents, Graham and Sally, were both primary school teachers and divorced when Ms Reeves was seven.
The sisters told the New Statesman in 2023 that they were inspired by the 'Blair's babes' generation of female Labour MPs, which included Harriet Harman, Tessa Jowell and Oona King. However, their love for politics had started when they were much younger – when, aged 13, the Chancellor ran in their school's mock election and employed Ellie as her campaign manager.
As a political duo, they also supported each other through the factional infighting of the Corbyn years, when Ellie faced calls for her deselection.
'We used to regularly get a recipe book out and spend an afternoon baking,' she told the magazine. 'Just having a chat about what was going on. It was a really big source of support.'
Some people, perhaps including Ms Reeves, seemed surprised that she was unable to contain her feelings during PMQs.
Those who know the 46-year-old MP professionally say she is used to putting on a front at public events.
Her persona as the self-described 'Iron Chancellor' is quite unlike how she behaves in private, where she is known for cracking jokes and having fun.
'She has this infectious laughter,' Zofia Stemplowska, a friend of the Chancellor from Oxford, told The Telegraph last year. 'She is very funny. She is very perceptive. She is this warm, supportive person.'
But when the cameras turn on, she usually projects a steely and authoritative image.
It returned on Thursday, after a brief hiatus, when she appeared to endorse the Government's 10-year health plan with a rictus grin on her face.
'People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday,' she said. 'Today's a new day and I'm just cracking on with the job.'
