Rachel Reeves is planning a political comeback, insiders have told The i Paper, with her recent interventions over the economy and the European Union signs that she still harbours hopes of a return to Cabinet.
Allies of the Prime Minister are understood to have let Reeves know that there is a way back if she wants it – though there are no current plans for a reshuffle.
Unlike former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who resigned as an MP, Reeves has not only remained in Parliament after what could be considered a humiliating rebuff from Andy Burnham in replacing her with John Healey, but has also remained publicly loyal to the new government.
One source said Reeves had been “genuinely heartbroken” to have left Government.
“She still thinks she is young enough to make a big contribution” and believes she has “another big job in her”, the source added.
Reeves re-enters the public fray
After a relatively short period of keeping her own counsel, Reeves first re-emerged last month when she drew applause with a pointed question to the Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman after a lecture at Oxford University saying: “In the last two years which coincides with my time as Chancellor of the Exchequer our productivity has rebounded to pre-financial crisis levels.”
It was a robust defence of her time as Chancellor, something she continued when she addressed Harvard University in her first speech since leaving the Treasury.“In my two Budgets, I raised taxes to build a stronger fiscal buffer and to invest in public services,” Reeves said, defending her record in a speech at Harvard University earlier this week,” she said.
“There was no way to raise revenue on the scale required which would be free of pain.”
This comes along with some revisionism around Reeves since her departure from the Treasury. Despite months of criticism over her stewardship of the economy, growth has proved more resilient than expected, with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) upgrading its 2026 forecast to 1.2 per cent.
A certain Rachel asked Nobel laureate Paul Krugman a question at Oxford last night, casually noting the IMF’s praise for UK deficit and debt reduction and the productivity puzzle being revised away. All during her time as Chancellor, as it happens. Laughter and applause. pic.twitter.com/1pkMje77Dy
— Ali (@AliKh1886) October 16, 2026Significantly, Healey paid tribute to his predecessor in last week’s Budget, praising her fiscal discipline, efforts to boost investment and work on NHS waiting lists and child poverty.
Intervention in the Brexit debate
Reeves then made a significant intervention on the rekindled Brexit debate, weighing in to back the Prime Minister.
Writing in the Sunday Times she said: “There is a debate to be had about our future relationship with Europe, and I welcome Andy Burnham’s leadership in facing up to this.
“No one in the Treasury ever doubted where my instincts were. I do believe Britain’s future lies in the European Union.”
A Labour insider said of this: “I am assuming this is her route back in the reshuffle. They will have been talking to her.”
Reeves’s path back to the top table is also thought to have been made easier by the appointment of Ben Nunn, her well-regarded former chief of staff and a close ally of Starmer, as Burnham’s EU adviser in Number 10.
A Whitehall source described the appointment as “really good news” and a sign that Burnham is “serious” about his European ambitions.
Reeves had previously enjoyed a close relationship with Burnham. It is understood that she would have served as his shadow chancellor had he won the Labour leadership in 2015.
What job would she want?
She had been in discussions with Burnham’s team about the prospect of taking on another big job in government ahead of him becoming PM – and could have even taken Shabana Mahmood’s job at the Home Office had she moved to the Treasury.
However, Reeves was eventually offered a lesser role – understood to be education secretary – and decided to leave government when Burnham appointed his top team in July.
Having turned down a more junior Cabinet role it is unlikely she would settle for anything other than home or foreign secretary in the Cabinet. A return to the Treasury is feasible, but would raise questions of why replace her in the first place? More likely is that she is given an advisory role like that of former PM Gordon Brown, particularly if plans to rejoin the EU pick up pace, where she could be given a substantial role.
But any return is likely to prove controversial. While many politicians have a renaissance in popularity once they leave office, her critics will remember she was an unpopular Chancellor and blamed along with Starmer for Labour’s dire polling before Burnham took over.
She also courted controversy however, accepting freebies in the early days of the Labour government and questions over her banking experience on her CV.
Speculation she would quit as an MP
Only weeks ago, there was speculation that Reeves could quit Parliament altogether, with The Mail on Sunday reporting suggestions at Westminster that she might follow Keir Starmer’s example and resign her Commons seat.
The newspaper also reported that Reeves and Nunn had met two City firms to discuss the political advice they could offer, amid speculation about a move into private consultancy.
The discussions reportedly involved Nunn’s newly established political advisory company, Arlington Road Consultants, which was incorporated on September 27.
Nunn, who had been Reeves’s most senior political adviser at the Treasury, is listed as its director. The firm was set up to operate in the public relations and communications sector, potentially offering clients advice informed by its founder’s experience at the heart of government.
The Mail on Sunday reported that the pair’s meetings with the two City companies had taken place in the fortnight before the Budget, with sources suggesting that the discussions centred on the political advice they could provide.
The newspaper also reported that the chief executives involved had met Reeves several times during her time as Chancellor.
The revelations prompted Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake to write to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, calling for the meetings to be investigated.
The concern centred on the rules governing former ministers and special advisers, which are designed to prevent the use of privileged government information and contacts for private commercial benefit.
Both Reeves and Nunn are subject to a two-year ban on lobbying government.
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