Moment Reeves refuses to satisfy Kemi Badenoch’s eye in TV showdown after Tory chief branded her a liar and ridiculed her ‘sexism’ complaints

Rachel Reeves pointedly refused to meet Kemi Badenoch‘s eye today after the Tory leader branded her a liar.

The Chancellor looked away as she was stared down by Mrs Badenoch on screen before their separate interviews on the BBC this morning.

Following the awkward moment, Ms Reeves complained that she had been made ‘uncomfortable’ by the Opposition chief’s brutal attacks on the Budget in the Commons. 

She swiped that Mrs Badenoch had been ‘personal’ in her jibes, which included ridicling the Chancellor’s gripes about ‘mansplaining’.

But Mrs Badenoch told presenter Laura Kuenssberg that her ‘job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor’. 

She said that Labour ministers ‘like to dish it but they can’t take it’ and repeated her demand for Ms Reeves to quit. 

Rachel Reeves studiously avoided meeting the gaze of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch as they both prepared to be interviewed on the BBC this morning

Ms Reeves complained that she had been made ‘uncomfortable’ by the Opposition chief’s brutal attacks on the Budget in the Commons

Mrs Badenoch told presenter Laura Kuenssberg that her ‘job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor’

The Tories have accused Ms Reeves of ‘lying’ to soften the country up for tax increases

The barbed comments came after the Tory leader said Ms Reeves ‘lied’ about the state of the finances in order to soften up the public for monster Budget tax hikes.  

Asked about Mrs Badenoch’s Commons attacks on the Budget, Ms Reeves said: ‘I don’t like that sort of stuff. I don’t do it. I try to concentrate on policies rather than personalities.

‘I would just say that Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss’s budget, she said was 100% right, so I’m not totally sure whether her judgment chimes with the British public.

‘But as a politician, I have always tried to focus on the issues and not the personalities. It’s just not the sort of politics that I do.

‘So, yes, I was a bit uncomfortable listening to that, because it’s not really the way that I behave, but people are entitled to deliver the Budget response that they want and she focused on personalities.

‘I would have preferred to hear Kemi Badenoch set out her alternative economic proposals. We haven’t heard that.’

But Mrs Badenoch dismissed the idea she had gone too far.

‘I remember last year’s Budget – Rachel Reeves took a swipe at me, I wasn’t even Leader of the Opposition then – she’s forgotten now,’ she said.

‘I remember when Rachel Reeves was out there calling Rishi Sunak a liar. I remember when they were all calling Liz Truss a lettuce.

‘But now it’s them and I’m merely talking about her competence. They can’t take it. They like to dish it, but they can’t take it.

The barbed comments came after the Tory leader said Ms Reeves ‘lied’ about the state of the finances in order to soften up the public for monster Budget tax hikes

Despite the on-screen froideur, behind-the-scenes photos suggest that the pair did share a joke at one point

‘My job is to hold the Government to account, not to provide emotional support for the Chancellor and the people out there wanted someone to tell her she was doing a bad job, and I had to make sure that I got that message across.’

Ms Badenoch added: ‘I don’t care whether people misbehave at the despatch box. What I care about is whether or not I’m doing a good job.

‘She should care about whether or not she’s doing a good job – she’s doing a terrible job.’

She said: ‘The Chancellor called an emergency press conference telling everyone about how terrible the state of the finances were and now we have seen that the OBR had told her the complete opposite.

‘She was raising taxes to pay for welfare.

‘The only thing that was unfunded was the welfare payments which she has made and she’s doing it on the backs of a lot of people out there who are working very hard and getting poorer.

‘And because of that, I believe she should resign.’

Ms Badenoch added: ‘The shadow chancellor Mel Stride has written to the FCA.

‘Hopefully there will be an investigation, because it looks like what she was doing was trying to pitch-roll her budget – tell everyone how awful it would be and then they wouldn’t be as upset when she finally announced it – and still sneak in those tax rises to pay for welfare.

‘That’s not how we should be running this process. We need people to have confidence in our system, in what the Chancellor is going to announce.’

Despite the on-screen froideur, behind-the-scenes photos suggest that the pair did share a joke at one point.