Conservative grandee Ken Clarke has become the latest big wig to throw his weight behind Rachel Reeves for chancellor.
Speaking to the i’s Labour’s Plan For Power podcast, Lord Clarke, who served as chancellor under John Major and was health secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government, said he had been impressed by Reeves.
But he stopped short of full backing for Labour, saying: “It’s her party that worries me”.
“If it was Jeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves, then I don’t think either of the parties would worry me very much.”
The comments come just weeks after the former governor of the Bank of England endorsed the Labour Party in a major coup for Sir Keir Starmer and his shadow chancellor.
Mark Carney said it was “beyond time” for Ms Reeves to run the economy in a Labour government.
The 58-year-old, who was hand-picked by former Tory chancellor George Osborne to be governor, stunned the Labour conference last month with a video address saying: “Rachel Reeves is a serious economist. She began her career at the Bank of England, so she understands the big picture. But, crucially she understands the economics of work, of place and family. It is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action.”
Echoing his sentiments in the i, Lord Clarke said: “I don’t think they disagree on very much. They do, of course, politically, I do myself disagree with some of Rachel’s political views, I’m sure.
“But her actual approach, a responsible approach to macroeconomic policy, matches the responsible approach to macroeconomic policy that Jeremy Hunt has, which is in the present shambles of British and international politics and the dangers of it I find rather reassuring – about the only thing I do find reassuring about this election that’s coming up.”
Lord Clarke also warned she would face “a lot of tough, unpopular decisions” if Labour wins power, because “we’re not going to get out of our present financial crisis for at least two or three years”.
Labour grandee Lord Mandelson also threw his weight behind Reeves, saying: “She’s even tougher than I thought she was. I mean, I knew she would be a bit of an old boot, but I didn’t realise that she’d be quite as uncompromising in the way in which she develops policy, sees off her detractors and deals with her colleagues on some occasions too.”
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