Actually, it is the patronising, tone-deaf MPs who need reminding we are human

Daily Mirror

04-07-2025

Hang on a minute.
Five minutes ago, Chancellor Rachel Reeves was ready and willing to balance the government's books on the back of the poor and the weakest in our society.
The Daily Mirror was among the platforms with a conscience highlighting the ordinary working - and in some cases middle - class people whose tears will never be seen in the public domain.
They continue to include people suffering from stress, anxiety, the people whose children with ADHD can't get an education because they are wrongly characterised as trouble instead of traumatised. Who sees their tears? Who weeps for them outside the campaigners working tirelessly to keep them in the news agenda?
Do the tears and the subsequent puffy eyes of the Chancellor really cancel out the concern for them? Does the justified concern we have for Rachel Reeves really outweigh the mounting worry for millions struggling to access the services they need and the others at the mercy of more welfare cuts?
Yes, a nation we go weak at the knees for a tear or two. Weep in public and you instantly become a national treasure. From Paul Gascoigne at the 1990 World Cup, through Andy Murray in 2012, crying before he finally conquered Wimbledon, to Denise Welch who sobbed announcing her marriage split on Loose Women.
But honestly, spare me the vomit-inducing hypocrisy from disingenuous politicians reminding us that MPs are human when they are more than willing to push through policy they know will leave our lives - and others' - in pieces.
On one side of the Despatch box we have a government whose many positive things they have done since taking office a year ago have been eclipsed by what many perceive as a betrayal of the voters who installed them in office.
On the Opposition benches, the Tories whose lack of humanity is extensively documented going back 14 years. And even they are now having to go some to match Reform.
So actually, it is the politicians who need reminding that we are human. It is the politicians whose word salads when families are burning, starving and being brutalised to death in the Middle East, speak volumes. It is the politicians with form for trying take from the poor to give to the rich.
Even at a basic level, it is hard for the government to send out the 'be kind' message when a PM trumpets the number of women in his government while his Chancellor is crying behind him.
Reeves is the woman who guffawed, slapped her thigh and couldn't stop laughing behind Sir Keir Starmer when the PM, defending himself against criticism of his dog whistle, 'Island of Strangers' speech, humiliated Welsh MP Liz Saville Roberts in the House.
None of that means she deserved her difficult moment on Wednesday. All of it means we all have a duty to be kind, to think of others and to mindful of when it next could be us.
Kemi Badenoch is a vicious, mendacious, nasty piece of work with form for ignoring the sisterhood to kick a colleague when she is down.
Four years ago she tried and failed to embarrass an outstanding young female journalist on a rival newspaper when the writer had quite correctly approached her to clarify issues over a video campaign promoting the coronavirus vaccine programme.
But was the Tory leader really the aggressor in this situation? It was only after Badenoch remarked that Reeves appeared miserable that the Chancellor's tears began to flow.
Handed the chance to go in again, Badenoch would only point out that Starmer hadn't backed his Chancellor, not that her quivering bottom lip was dancing all over the place and that mascara was getting ready to run.
The Tory leader has form for showing herself to be devoid of empathy, sympathy and emotional intelligence.
But she actually declined the chance to in harder, to avail herself of an open goal in what would easily have been even more unedifying scenes.
And here's the thing. What was Reeves doing in the Chamber if she was struggling with 'a private matter' that serious? Nobody would have begrudged her the opportunity to leave to address it.
The theatre of politics would have survived had she attended to the matter instead of engaging in the performative Punch and Judy which so often, actually demeans our political system.
Why did none of her government colleagues on the front bench, seeing her distress, immediately move to support her?
Sadly, her continued presence in the Chamber meant Badenoch had to keep her in the Tory crosshairs - as it was the Chancellor's work on the line.
Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions had been the highest profile of the politicians raising the alarm. Millions of words had been written and spoken voicing fear at what had already been characterised as a betrayal of the very people that had voted for this Labour government.
A week ago the Treasury had been briefing there would be no u-turn.
The issue was so serious that, yes, Reeves's colleagues were openly briefing against her.
Now this. There is a view that the Chancellor was feeling the emotional effects of an earlier exchange with the Speaker, caught on camera.
But then, in the next breath, we are told by those who have known her since her student days that she is a tough political operator.
Anyone who has operated in business - and the £3billion hit taken by the markets provided a stark reminder that this was very much business - will know that you simply cannot show what could be perceived as weakness in the field.
As someone who has fought my own battles in the workplace, my mantra has always been to keep a lid on vulnerability. Breathe out in private.
Many of the people who will defend your right to show it in our supposed enlightened era will be the same ones jumping onto their private WhatsApp groups to give you both barrels there.
The reality too, is that whatever the truth, political images act as a brutal metaphor for the bigger political picture.
Ask Ed Miliband who never recovered from his bacon sandwich face. Ask Rishi Sunak, soaked outside no.10 during his General Election announcement or another former PM, Theresa May who wept as she prepared to exit stage left.