Rachel Reeves has said she was “uncomfortable” listening to Kemi Badenoch’s response to the Budget, in which the Conservative leader mocked and impersonated the Chancellor.
Mrs Badenoch has defended her comments and said her “job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor”.
During her Budget response in the Commons on Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch called Ms Reeves “spineless, shameless and completely aimless”, adding: “Let me explain to the Chancellor, woman to woman: people out there aren’t complaining because she’s female, they’re complaining because she is utterly incompetent.”
As Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves exchanged words on the front bench, the Tory leader asked: “Is he mansplaining to you, by the way?”
Ms Reeves told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I don’t like that sort of stuff. I don’t do it. I try to concentrate on policies rather than personalities.”
She added: “So, yes, I was a bit uncomfortable listening to that, because it’s not really the way that I behave, but people are entitled to deliver the Budget response that they want and she focused on personalities.”
Asked whether she went too far in her response to the Budget, Mrs Badenoch told Kuenssberg: “I remember last year’s Budget – Rachel Reeves took a swipe at me, I wasn’t even leader of the Opposition then – she’s forgotten now.
“I remember when Rachel Reeves was out there calling Rishi Sunak a liar. I remember when they were all calling Liz Truss a lettuce.
“But now it’s them and I’m merely talking about her competence. They can’t take it. They like to dish it, but they can’t take it.
“My job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor, and the people out there wanted someone to tell her she was doing a bad job, and I had to make sure that I got that message across.”
Mrs Badenoch said the Chancellor was “raising taxes to pay for welfare” in the Budget and “should resign”.
The Conservative leader added: “I don’t care whether people misbehave at the despatch box. What I care about is whether or not I’m doing a good job.
“She should care about whether or not she’s doing a good job – she’s doing a terrible job.”
