Rachel Reeves has had a difficult start to her ministerial career. As well as Labour’s new chancellor taking on the challenges of the UK economy, she has faced tricky questions about her past. They began with scrutiny of her online CV late last year. On the professional networking site LinkedIn, the Chancellor of the Exchequer claimed to have worked as an economist at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) immediately before becoming an MP.
One of those who challenged it was a retired former colleague, Kev Gillett. In a public post on LinkedIn, which he asked followers to share, he wrote: “Back in 2009 Rt Hon Rachel Reeves worked 3 levels below me. Just facts. She was a Complaints Support Manager at LBG/HBOS. Not an Economist. #factcheck.”
In fact, it emerged that she had worked in a managerial role within the bank’s complaint handling department and her LinkedIn profile was updated to remove the claim.
Gillett also made another claim about Reeves’s time at the bank from 2006 to 2009, writing that she: “Nearly got sacked due to an expenses scandal where the 3 senior managers were all signing off each other’s expenses.”
Reeves’s team presented several former HBOS employees for interview who said they corroborated her account that she had not been investigated. However, they left in February 2008, more than a year before Reeves departed. She also said she had never heard of giving birthday and Christmas gifts at HBOS’s expense, as being part of the bank’s policies, which was used by many other financial institutions.
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