Labour’s Rachel Reeves has suggested she will demolish Jeremy Hunt’s private urinal in the Treasury if she succeeds him as Chancellor.
Speaking ahead of today’s general election, Ms Reeves hinted she would flush away all traces of her Tory predecessor if she’s installed as Britain’s first female Chancellor.
It was recently reported how Treasury officials had been discussing the fate of Mr Hunt’s private toilet and whether the urinal should be removed.
After the general election was called – and with Labour maintaining a large lead in opinion polls – a picture emerged of the green-and-white tiled room with boxes of period products placed neatly above the sink.
Another showed the urinal placed behind a glass screen, while it was claimed a team of workers in high-vis jackets had been inspecting the facility.
Asked whether she was fine with the urinal remaining in the private bathroom, should she take charge of the Treasury, Ms Reeves told the Spectator magazine: ‘Not really.’
She added her approach was about ‘smashing glass ceilings and urinals’.
Ahead of Labour’s expected general election victory, Ms Reeves also told the magazine she had been offered advice by George Osborne, one of Mr Hunt’s Tory predecessors as Chancellor.
‘I always am happy to receive advice,’ she said. ‘Alistair Darling was a good friend and mentor of mine. He passed away last year, but I sought advice from him as well.
‘In the end, the challenges that I’d face if I become Chancellor are different from those that George Osborne faced 14 years ago and different from what Gordon [Brown] faced 27 years ago. I have to forge my own path.’
A Treasury insider last week told the Financial Times there had ‘been a discussion about whether it’s appropriate to have a urinal in there and whether it should be removed’.
The newspaper reported the Treasury facilities department has been discussing the Chancellor’s private toilet, which is said to date from the Edwardian era.
One Tory official claimed Labour was ‘taking the voters for granted’, adding: ‘Not only are they measuring the curtains but they are doing up the bathroom.’
But a spokesperson for Ms Reeves said: ‘We are not doing a running commentary on toilet arrangements.’