Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ very regular faculty background and ‘girlie swot’ admission

She’s now one of the most powerful women in the country, but Rachel Reeves was once just a ‘girlie swot’ from an ordinary background by her own admission.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is today delivering her Autumn Budget, has previously spoken out about the very normal education she received at a state comprehensive – a world away from the tailcoats and stiff starched collars of Eton. Born to primary school teachers Graham and Sally, Ms Reeves attended Cator Park School for Girls in Bromley, where she took A Levels in maths, further maths, economics and politics.

She then went on to become the third pupil in Cator Park history to attend Oxford University, where she read for a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics, followed by a master’s degree at the London School of Economics.

The clever schoolgirl’s potential became apparent at an early age, as a junior chess champion who was a national champion by the time she was 14. And it was while playing against privately educated schoolboys who balked at the idea of playing against a girl, that Ms Reeves harnessed all her powers of determination to prove them wrong.

During an interview with The Times back in June, before she became the first female chancellor, Ms Reeves recalled what it was like to be one of the few state school pupils to compete in such tournaments. She shared: “It did make me more determined. One tournament I was playing in, I was drawn against a boy, and his friend came over and said, ‘Lucky you, playing a girl’.

“You can imagine, if I wasn’t going to be giving it my all before, I certainly was after that comment. And so I beat him. There were two things I always wanted to prove: that a girl could be just as good as a boy, but also a girl from an ordinary background could be just as good as a boy from a more privileged background.”

And this steely drive has continued to steer Ms Reeves as she navigates the upper echelons of UK politics – a place traditionally populated by those from extreme privilege. The Leeds West MP, who has served as shadow chancellor since May 2021, has admitted she still feels a degree of imposter syndrome as she walks the historic halls of Westminister, which has made her all the more resolved to prove herself against those who ‘underestimate’ her – just as she did as a teenage chess player.

Ms Reeves, who worked as an economist before entering the world of politics, continued: “I do know that it’s not usual for girls from my background to go on to do what I’m doing today and I’m very driven to ensure that more young people from my background, and more girls as well, get the opportunity to get on and thrive and believe they can do anything.”

The Chancellor is today (Wednesday, October 30) set to announce £500 million for 5,000 new affordable homes – many of which are for social rent. The ‘top up’ for the Affordable Homes programme is intended to deliver a mix of homes to buy and to rent for below market rate, focusing on delivering homes for social rent.

The Sunday Mirror revealed back in July that Reeves will announce measures to allow councils and other social providers to invest in more social housing, with councils given assurances on the rent levels they can charge to ensure they have the financial stability to borrow to build homes.

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