Labour has a new great clunking fist’ in Reeves

Voters need to ask themselves one important question, we were told immediately after the chancellor had stood down: Are me and my family better off with a Conservative government? And the answer is no.”

- ED DORRELL

That was the killer line from the shadow chancellor’s response to the autumn statement yesterday. It confirmed something I’ve been thinking for a while: Labour has a new great clunking fist”. Only this time, it doesn’t take the shape of a glowering Scotsman with a furrowed brow and a challenging approach to body language. This time it takes the shape of the shadow chancellor: Rachel Reeves MP.

Tony Blair’s memorable description of Gordon Brown in 2008 a threat to David Cameron that he would be crushed by the great clunking fist” was a fantastic way of describing both Brown’s approach to running the shadow treasury team before 1997 and his grip on the national finances in the years that followed. It also reminded us of the grip he had exerted over domestic policy while Blair was in No 10.

Reeves’s presentational skills might be a little more accomplished than Brown’s, but there are still many parallels between the two in their ambition and their way of doing business. They exact a high degree of control over what is and isn’t said and what can and can’t be committed to when it comes to policy and spending. They have a clear-eyed vision of what Labour needs to do win and retain power.