Rachel Reeves performs one other U-turn after telling pals that dyeing her hair crimson was ‘a mistake’

Rachel Reeves has performed another U-turn after telling friends that dyeing her hair red was ‘a mistake’.

The Chancellor raised eyebrows in Westminster this month when she swapped her sleek black bob for a softer copper-toned look. 

But, with the Budget just days away, she has reverted to a chestnut shade much closer to her original colour.

The 45-year-old, who on Wednesday will become the first woman in British history to deliver a Budget, is said to have wanted a new look for the historic occasion.

But she told friends she immediately disliked the results of the initial dye job, which was meant to deliver a lighter shade, not turn her into a redhead overnight.

Rachel Reeves has performed another U-turn after telling friends that dyeing her hair red was ‘a mistake’

The Chancellor raised eyebrows in Westminster this month when she swapped her sleek black bob for a softer copper-toned look

‘It was a mistake,’ said one.

In an interview with the Observer yesterday, Ms Reeves predicted that her Budget would stand comparison with Labour’s greatest economic achievements in office, such as the Attlee government’s efforts to rebuild the economy of the Second World

She said her motivation was ‘really personal’, having gone to a state secondary school in inner London where the sixth form was ‘a couple of prefab huts in the playground’.

‘I felt very strongly that the governments of Thatcher and Major didn’t care very much about schools like mine, communities like mine and the kids I went to school with,’ she said.

‘Being able to rebuild schools is fulfilling what I came into politics for.’

In the run-up to the Budget, Ms Reeves has traded heavily on her experience at the Bank of England, where she worked briefly after leaving university.

Former Bank governor Mervyn King yesterday said she was only ever a ‘junior economist’ at the institution. But he told Sky News she had impressed, saying she was ‘very tough. Intellectually, very bright… she was forthright.’