Rachel Reeves claimed she was an ‘economist’ on official documents – despite not working as one at the time, it emerged last night.
Documents show she stated her ‘business occupation’ to be an ‘economist’ on an appointment form for a charity in 2008.
The now-Chancellor was working at the Halifax Bank of Scotland at the time. She has recently changed her LinkedIn CV to clarify that she was not working as an ‘economist’ at the time.
Last week it emerged that she had deleted ‘economist’ from her profile work experience and changed it to ‘retail banking’ during her time at the bank in 2006-9.
Last night a Tory source said: ‘Rachel Reeves has serious questions to answer – questions we have asked her, and questions which the public deserve an answer to.’
But a Treasury source said: ‘Rachel Reeves was a trained economist that worked in financial services.’
It comes after Ms Reeves’ claim in an interview with Stylist magazine from 2021 that she had spent a decade at the Bank of England, when her LinkedIn account described it as a six-year period between 2000 and 2006, was contested.
Downing Street refused to say whether Ms Reeves broke the ministerial code amid accusations she embellished her CV.
In her Mansion House speech last Thursday evening, Ms Reeves, pictured, told guests: ‘Before entering politics, I worked as an economist at the Bank of England. And then in financial services.’
Her LinkedIn CV – which had previously said that she was an economist at the Bank of Scotland has now been updated to say she was in ‘Retail Banking’, the Guido Fawkes political website noted
It previously reported that she worked in a support department at the Bank of Scotland which managed administration, IT and planning matters. Pictured: Reeves during a visit to Tokamak Energy in Milton, Abingdon
On Monday, No10 sidestepped a question over whether lying on a CV is a breach of the code – but instead praised Ms Reeves for having ‘restored fiscal stability’.
A No10 spokeswoman added: ‘This is someone who on coming into office looked under the bonnet and exposed a £22 billion black hole in the public finances, and has been straight with the public about what is necessary to balance the books and restore financial stability in the face of that.’
Ms Reeves’ LinkedIn profile lists her work history from 2000 onwards.
The latest documents were obtained by the Guido Fawkes website.
It says she worked in three areas of the Bank over the six-year period she was employed there: its international economic analysis division, then at the British Embassy in Washington DC in the second secretary economic division, and finally in the structural economic analysis division.
After this it lists her time working for Halifax Bank of Scotland, then her political career following her election in 2010.