ANDREW PIERCE reveals the breathtakingly cynical reason why Keir Starmer WON'T sack chancellor Rachel Reeves...yet
As MPs poured out of the Commons after another stormy Prime Minister's Questions this week, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves cut a particularly lonely figure.
With her head bowed, Reeves was exiting the Chamber alone – until one colleague caught up with her to walk loyally by her side.
It was the chairman of the Labour Party, one Ellie Reeves, the Chancellor's younger sister. No other Labour MP, it seems, was willing to be seen associating with the embattled Chancellor.
What a dismal year she has had. Reeves came into office last summer promising to 'unlock private investment', 'fix the foundations of our economy' and deliver 'sustained economic growth'. She has failed on all three counts – and it increasingly shows.
Many Labour MPs commented on the Chancellor's body language as she took her usual place next to Starmer at PMQs. 'She looked broken, like she had been tranquillised,' says one source. 'She is clearly deeply troubled and unhappy.'
There have even been reports – sharply denied by the Treasury – that Reeves spent much of Thursday in floods of tears amid shouting matches with colleagues. 'It's not true: she is resolute,' says one of her allies – a diminishing group these days.
Now the Chancellor's problems are about to get even worse. Keir Starmer 's screeching U-turn over disability benefit cuts means she has to find billions to fill a budget black hole – and comes only weeks after her humiliating £1.25 billion volte-face on winter fuel payments.
With almost 130 Labour MPs joining the revolt over the Welfare Bill, there are now huge questions about the Prime Minister's grip over his party.
Keir Starmer 's screeching U-turn over disability benefit cuts means Reeves has to find billions to fill a budget black hole
But it is the debacle over disability cuts that threatens to destroy the remnants of the Chancellor's political and economic credibility.
Reeves is now at the centre of a full-blown crisis in relations between Downing Street and Labour MPs. The Chancellor – more than any other member of the Cabinet – is being blamed for the shambles.
Some MPs have privately said they 'hate' her. Now the Chancellor's critics within her own party are growing ever louder. Worryingly for Reeves, they include a number of ministers unhappy at her performance.
In the increasingly febrile mood at Westminster, even moderate Labour MPs are now saying Starmer should sack her. If she stays, they reason, she will worsen the PM's poll ratings – languishing at an abysmal 46 per cent in the latest YouGov survey.
But would Starmer have the guts to ditch his Chancellor barely a year after their landslide general election victory? Absolutely not – and the reason why, I can reveal, is breathtakingly cynical.
One senior party figure tells me: 'Number 10 needs her. She is absorbing all the blame for our problems, and therefore diverting it from the PM.
'Whether it's in the rural areas over her decision to bring in inheritance tax for farmers, or with pensioners over winter fuel, it's Rachel's name that comes up on the doorstep every time, not Keir's.
'Keir is an anonymous figure at Parliament. We rarely see him and he's never in the division lobbies, while Rachel is there all the time. She's receiving huge flak from her own colleagues.'
But my source also warned fellow Labour MPs: 'Have we learnt nothing from the Tory years? They went into the last election a shattered force and suffered their worst ever defeat.'
While few MPs expect Reeves to be sacked or even demoted in the short term, the next big test could be the autumn Budget.
Reeves set herself two new fiscal rules in the last Budget: pledging to balance day-to-day spending with tax receipts and to get public debt down as a share of the economy.
Another source says: 'The PM may order her to change the rules to avoid tax rises. It could lead to a showdown. If she refuses, she goes. If she agrees to change them, her last scrap of respectability is gone and she will be a lame duck. If taxes go up, it's hard to see how she could limp on for much longer.'
After the Budget, Labour faces the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament elections in May. Reform are expecting to capture Wales, a traditional Labour stronghold.
A senior government figure says: 'If the local elections are a disaster, Keir will need to blame someone. There'll be yet another 'reset' and I think he'll throw Rachel under a bus if he hasn't already. He will pledge a new direction with a new Chancellor.'
The favourite would be Pat McFadden, the dour Cabinet Office minister. But if Tuesday's vote is dramatically lost – now thought to be unlikely after the rebels won a raft of concessions – Reeves would be in dire trouble, as in fiscal terms the Government would be holed below the waterline.
Reeves' own political hero is Gordon Brown. She will no doubt be aware of his infamous quip that there are two types of Chancellor: those who fail and those who get out just in time.
A mere 11 months after she entered the Treasury, most Labour MPs – to say nothing of the country at large – have already decided which one of those she is.
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Daily Mail
39 minutes ago
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EXCLUSIVE The unassuming terraced house next to an award-winning fish and chip shop is a BROTHEL - so what goes on behind closed doors, as one resident reveals: 'Punters can see into our kitchen'
Nestled close to a popular ladies hairdresser and an award-winning chippie lies this unremarkable terraced house in a small town in Derbyshire. Every day, a regular trickle of locals file past it to walk the dog, buy chips or get their hair done, unaware of what goes on inside. Even residents who live directly opposite the anonymous house in the former coal mining town of Ilkeston seem to have no idea of why men - and it is always men - regularly turn up at the front door, often looking furtive or cagey. Perhaps the first clue as to what lies within comes from the front windows which, unusually, are tinted - and then there is the sign on the front door which instructs visitors to 'please use the other entrance at rear'. 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'With a perfect blend of elegance and style, our talented ladies are dedicated to delivering an exceptional no-rush service that guarantees you will leave with a smile. 'Each day, we feature two or more enticing masseuses, showcasing a diverse selection of beauty—from slim and leggy blondes to voluptuous brunettes. 'Whether you prefer curvy or slim, tall or petite, our team, aged from their early 20s to late 30s, is here to cater to your desires and provide a rejuvenating experience tailored just for you. 'Indulge yourself and let us take care of you!' The girls who have suitably exotic names like 'Tia', 'Isabella ' and Sienna' are pictured in various states of undress, some leave very little to the imagination while others are a little more demure, though all faces are either hidden or blurred. Spangles includes a schedule of which girls are available on which day. When MailOnline called this week, the two masseuses on duty were 39-year-old blonde Lisa, who is seen nude in her publicity photo but covers her modesty with a large coffee table book and brunette Heidi, 26 who poses topless in white and black lingerie. Both thankfully are 'fully qualified in Level 3 full body massage'. However when we called the mobile number given on the website we were told that Heidi had gone home for the day and only Lisa was available. A 15-minute 'quickie' was £60, we learned, while a half-hour session would cost £80 or £90 if the client wanted a room with an en-suite bathroom to wash up in afterwards. So is all this legal? Technically no. Under British law, a brothel is classed as any premise - be it flat, house or massage parlour - where more than one person sells sexual services. Although It is not illegal to sell sexual services or work in a brothel it is an offence to 'keep, manage, act or assist in the management of a brothel.' The sentence is a fine or seven years in prison. Assisting in the management of a brothel can include keeping books, paying bills, holding keys and handling and logging money coming in from clients. But in reality, these long-standing laws are rarely if ever enforced. This is because the latest guidance from the National Police Chiefs' Council states: 'Brothel closures and raids create a mistrust of all external agencies . . . it is difficult to rebuild trust and ultimately reduces the amount of intelligence submitted to the police and puts sex workers at greater risk.' But even if no one is going from Derbyshire police is going to be knocking on the shop door anytime soon - the stigma attached to the business, because of its nature, is obvious. A young mother who asked not to be named lives in a flat close by with her young son and said that over the course of the last two days some 20 or so men had visited the brothel. She said: 'You can tell them a mile-off. 'They do all they can to be inconspicuous. Some pretend to be on the phone and walk down the side street and pause by the alleyway. 'I see them looking around to see who is about and if anyone clocks them, they walk straight on and pretend they're going somewhere else but really they just go round the block and come back. When the coast is clear they'll go in. 'Some are in ten minutes, others come out half an hour so later. But when they emerge from the alleyway, their heads are down and they're in a rush to get away. 'I tease them sometimes and shout things like 'you dirty tramp!'. None ever look up, they're off like a shot. 'You get a mixture of blokes who go there. Some are in their 20s and 30s and others around 60. Some are good looking and well dressed and others are scruffy who look as though they've never known the sweet embrace of a woman. 'The brothel is hidden away down the bottom of the alley. People walk past that place and have no idea what's going on inside. 'I've known about it for about six or seven years - it's the only one I know of in Ilkeston. 'I think on average I must see about 10 punters visiting there a day - although I'm sure there's a lot more who go through the door. 'But I don't like it being so close to my home. I live here with my little son. I think it's appalling that such a place exists - I wish it would be shut down.' Apprentice electrician Alfie Perkins, 21, moved into a terraced house behind the brothel with his partner in February. They had no idea that sex workers were plying their trade there but Alfie said: 'We see men going in all the time. 'At first we thought it was a block of flats but the men sometimes wait in the yard for others to come out first. 'There's never any women. It makes perfect sense now that I know what that place is. 'My partner wants to get tinted windows at the back of the house because she doesn't like the fact the punters can see into our kitchen. 'To be fair, though, there's never been any trouble there whatsoever and there's not much noise from people coming or going from the premises. 'It's funny, someone told me the other day that there was a massage parlour around here…I didn't realise it was just behind us.' A trucker in his 50s who lives a few doors down from Alfie but who wished to remain anonymous said the brothel used ingenious ways to let punters know it was open for business. He told us: 'You wouldn't know it was even there, they're very, very discreet. 'There's no signage outside, no red-light or anything like that. What they do sometimes is one of the girls will drape fluorescent workmen trousers out of an upstairs window. It's a code that they're open and ready for business. 'I've walked past and seen the trousers myself several times. There's always a lot of activity at the back of my house with blokes heading in and out. 'There used to be music playing and in the summer with the windows open you'd hear it from the street. I think they got some complaints so they stopped. 'It doesn't really bother me too much that it's there. People using their services tend to keep a low profile… for obvious reasons.' Spangles has 56 reviews on Punternet - a US-based website dubbed the 'Blue Pages' or 'Thrustpilot' in which men compare experiences of various working women. The reviews - only a handful of which are less than positive - date all the way back to December 2006, when the business was based at a health spa and sauna above a parade of shops on the Derby Road near the centre of Nottingham, where it remained until 2018 before moving to Ilkeston. One punter - who calls himself 'andybaby' on Punternet - wrote: 'Spangles is great. Easy parking behind the shops where nobody can see you get out your car and enter. 'Nice shower and changing facilities. The rooms are basic with just a massage table but they are clean.' Another client -'hxxx' - who had half an hour with two of the girl - provided a fascinating insight into trip. He wrote: 'Spangles is a really friendly place. Everyone who works there is very welcoming and the receptionist is a star. 'The rooms are rather small (barely big enough for a massage table) and the piped radio is annoying (it was quite surreal to hear the traffic report during a live lesbian sex show) but I love this place all the same. It's safe and clean.' According to the Land Registry the house that Spangles is based in belongs to former electrical contractor turned property investor Martyn Kelk. Mr Kelk, 62, bought the property for £60,000 at auction in 2018. In 2017 his then company Premier Electrical Services - which he sold a year later - was the shirt sponsor for League Two football side Notts County. He lives in a sprawling farmhouse 20-miles from Ilkeston in the Nottinghamshire village of Owthorpe. Mr Kelk is currently in Greece on holiday but he told the Mail this week of his shock: 'I had no idea that the property was being used in such a way. 'The person who runs the business and who rents the property from me is listed on my accounts as a beauty therapist. 'Once a tenant signs the lease I don't tend to hear from them unless there's a problem. I haven't been to the site for years as it's nearly an hour away from my home. 'When I bought the property, it was in a dilapidated state and I spent a year renovating it. The person who runs the business has been a tenant for about six years, I don't have the paperwork with me so I can't tell you how long the lease has left to run. 'But do I need to kick them out? A good friend of mine is a police officer, I may have to ask him for advice.' A spokeswoman for Spangles insisted they were a legitimate massage business and strongly denied that their masseuses every carry out any sexual services. They also said they had not deceived anyone over their lease.
