Authority is so important in politics.
Authority to persuade your backbench MPs not to rebels.
Authority to convince the financial markets that you have the resolve to stick to your guns in difficult times.
Authority to persuade the country that you can be trusted to govern.
Rachel Reeves sought to portray herself as the “Iron Chancellor”.
But she lost her mettle with her screeching Budget U-turn to ditch her plan to break Labour’s flagship manifesto pledge on tax in order to raise Income Tax.
The markets were spooked by the startling retreat and her authority is badly damaged.
Economically, slapping 2p on Income Tax may well have made sense, and no doubt was being pushed by the Treasury.
It is an easy tax to collect, brings in billions and is hard to avoid unlike some of the array of other levies that the Chancellor will now have to impose to fill the gaping hole in her fiscal plans left by the U-turn.
However, politically she may have made the right decision with the shock volte face as breaching the pledge not to raise the rates of Income Tax, VAT or National Insurance for employees may have cost Labour the next General Election, expected in 2029, handing the keys to No10 to Nigel Farage.
Voters may have been reluctant to forgive and forget such a flagrant manifesto breach by an unpopular Government, especially given that leading economists had loudly warned before last year’s General Election that Britain would have to face tax rises, spending cuts, or both.
Ms Reeves’ mistake was to all but confirm she was going to break the manifesto, to raise Income Tax, in what was an unprecedented pre-Budget move, only then to have to row back in the face of sizeable opposition from Labour MPs, led by new Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell.
Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves have already had to backdown, in the face of a Labour revolt, over cuts to benefits to save billions from Britain’s ballooning welfare bill.
Now, they risk facing increasing problems in getting other controversial measures through the Commons.
They can argue that some of their backbench MPs are not facing up to the economic realities.
But so far rebellious Labour MPs have shown little sign of being ready to back down.
The Budget U-turn came as the Government was still being rocked by an explosion of Labour civil war after No10 insiders briefed that Sir Keir would fight any move to topple him, with fingers being pointed at allies of Wes Streeting for already being on “manoeuvres” ahead of a possible future leadership contest.
The briefing appeared to have been timed to force the Health Secretary, who was on the morning media round for the Government, to pledge his loyalty to Sir Keir.
Mr Streeting gave the Prime Minister his backing but tore into Downing Street insiders accusing them of trying to “kneecap” him, branding them “silly” and “juvenile”.
During confident interviews, the Blairite MP for Ilford North also showed that he was a better communicator than Sir Keir, impressing some on the soft Left of the Labour Party.
The Health Secretary emerged as the winner in the coup frenzy at the heart of Government while Sir Keir was facing accusations that he has lost control of No10.
The Prime Minister summoned his senior team on Thursday to warn them they must not brief against ministers and was told no-one in No10 had.
Sir Keir has not launched an investigation to find out if anyone did and he has apologised to Mr Streeting which begs the question what did he apologise for if no-one in Downing Street briefed against him.
The PM has also faced calls from senior figures within Labour ranks to sack his chief-of-staff Morgan McSweeney, who reportedly denies being the briefer, with claims of a “toxic” culture in No10.
Sir Keir was standing by him.
But what is a startling political bust-up was increasingly looking like turning to farce with the denials of no briefings against Mr Streeting.
The whole saga risks further eroding Sir Keir’s authority over his party, even if some Labour MPs may now be more wary of joining a coup against him knowing it will be a political bloodbath rather than him going quietly.
The coup storm and Budget U-turn threaten to further damage trust in the Government, with senior City figure Sir Howard Davies accusing it of undermining economic growth with the chaotic pre-Budget briefings and Labour civil war.
Sir Keir And Ms Reeves’ woes are also not about to end soon.
They face a backlash against the tens of billions of pounds of tax rises looming in the Budget and then a Labour hammering at the local elections in May next year, including in London, as well as at those for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
As the next General Election approaches, backbench Labour MPs are likely to only get more jittery.
At last summer’s General Election, 412 Labour MPs were elected, giving Sir Keir a huge majority of more than 170.
But many of these MPs won their seats with small majorities and could easily lose them, especially with Reform UK’s surge in the polls.
So, they are likely to get even more rebellious, further threatening Sir Keir and Ms Reeves’ battered authority.
This week’s nightmare in Downing Street was astonishing...but it may get worse.
