Chancellor Rachel Reeves had a furious bust-up with her US counterpart after condemning Donald Trump's Iran war, it was claimed today. The Chancellor is said to have clashed with Scott Bessent at IMF meetings in Washington last month.
The blunt exchanges came after Ms Reeves branded the military action a 'folly' and said she was 'angry' Brits were going to suffer as a result. Downing Street did not deny the reports in the Financial Times today.
A spokesman said: 'We would not get into private conversations. The Chancellor and the US treasury secretary have a good relationship. They have had constructive conversations together since the Chancellor's visits to Washington.' The official picture did not betray the tensions. Ms Reeves gave a very plain description of her discussions with Mr Bessent.
'I think there is a readout from the US Department of Treasury, which made clear the productive nature of their relationship.' Ms Reeves had publicly criticised the US-led war against Iran before travelling across the Atlantic for the IMF sessions. That seemingly prompted US Treasury Secretary Mr Bessent to berate her on the sidelines of the gathering.
Ms Reeves hit back that she did not work for the US Government, and complained about how he had spoken to her. She then restated her view that the US lacked clear goals going into the conflict and was not making the world safer, according to the FT.
Ms Reeves had described the war as a 'folly' and said: 'This is a war that we did not start. It was a war that we did not want. I feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve.'
