Budget 2024: Rachel Reeves’ not often seen husband, well-known sister and daring transfer with children

Rachel Reeves is the first female Chancellor of the Exchequer since the post was first created in 1221, and this week will deliver her first Budget, holding aloft the famous red box before revealing the spending – and saving – decisions of the first Labour government for 14 years.

Rachel was born on February 13, 1979, making her 45 years old. She was raised in Lewisham, south-east London, to primary school teachers Graham and Sally, and attended the Cator Park School for Girls – a state school in Bromley. Her A-levels were in maths, further maths, economics and politics – giving her the ideal launchpad for her future political career.

Fiercely intelligent from an early age, the self-confessed “swot” spent lunchtimes at school sitting on her own poring over SATs exams to test herself, showing a competitive streak even then. She showed a propensity for maths from early on and won herself a place at Oxford’s New College to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics, becoming only the third student from her school to ever go to Oxford.

Rachel went on to achieve a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics and joined the Bank of England’s graduate scheme – in the same cohort as shamed former Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

She was also the British girls under-14 chess champion after her dad introduced her to the game at the age of seven.

Rachel joined the Labour party at the age of 16 when she was in sixth form, a year before Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997. After two unsuccessful attempts to gain office, she was elected MP for the former seat of Leeds West in 2010 – the seat later changed its name to Leeds West and Pudsey.

Who is Rachel Reeves’ husband?

Rachel is married to Nicholas Joicey, himself a senior civil servant who currently works as Second Permanent Secretary and Group Chief Operating Officer at DEFRA – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. His position earns £110,000 a year, alongside Rachel’s near £150,000 salary.

He previously held the position of Director General of the Cabinet Office’s Economic and Domestic Secretariat, and Director General for Finance at the Department for Work and Pensions. He also previously worked as Director General for Strategy, International and Finance at DEFRA, and before that was Gordon Brown’s speechwriter when Brown was Chancellor.

Before his political career, Nicholas was a journalist at The Observer. In the Queen’s 2019 Birthday Honours he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath for services to the environment.

Rachel and Nicholas met in Washington when she was working at the British embassy analysing the US economy with the Bank of England. They have two children, daughter Anna Elizabeth, who was born in 2013, and son Harold in 2015. She wrote about the experience of being the first woman in the Shadow Cabinet to have a baby, telling MMB Magazine: “I had a busy workload and a lot of pressure. Five months after my first baby was born, I came back to work, and although balancing the two was a challenge, I loved my job and had a supportive husband and family.

“I travelled regularly between Leeds and London, and both of my children are good travellers who love Leeds and London.”

Rachel had a run-in with the activist group 38 Degrees while on maternity leave with Anna, when they emailed her constituents to point out she had abstained on a crucial vote. But under the then parliamentary rules, Rachel had been paired with a Conservative MP who had also refrained from voting, meaning her absence was cancelled out. One of her constituents emailed back 38 Degrees to point out she was on mat leave, and the group apologised.

Who is Rachel Reeves’ sister?

As well as having a political husband, Rachel also has a famous sister who followed her into parliament. Ellie Reeves is the MP for Lewisham West and East Dulwich, a seat she has held since 2017. Ellie is also Chair of the Labour Party and Minister without Portfolio since Labour came into power in July 2024.

Like her older sister, Ellie showed signs of being very clever from a young age. She was educated at the same schools as Rachel and also went to Oxford, taking a bachelor’s degree in law from St Catherine’s College. Ellie went on to work as a barrister and is married to Labour peer John Cryer, now Baron Cryer, which entitles her to use the moniker Lady Cryer if she wants. The pair have two children.