Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been managing household responsibilities without her spouse after her husband relocated to Oxford, according to reports.
The chancellor, who occupies the second most senior elected position in the country, has apparently been residing apart from her husband Nick Joicey for some time.
The 55-year-old spouse of Britain’s finance minister is serving a 12-month secondment as interim chief operating officer at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government.
He commenced the position in January, meaning during weekdays he remains in Oxford before returning to the family home in London for weekends.
Last year, Rachel Reeves was seen wiping away tears in the House of Commons, prompting her husband to quickly reach her.
Andrew Pierce, writing for the Daily Mail, observed that politics can be an isolating profession under the best circumstances and that the Chancellor’s family has experienced considerable disruption in recent months.
Labour insiders informed the publication and columnist that Mr Joicey wished to provide his wife with additional space.
However, his tenure in Oxford apparently extends beyond what was originally scheduled, and he is not visiting Ms Reeves or the children during the week, according to Mr Pierce’s reporting.
One of Reeves’s closest female associates told him that it is difficult, but they are genuinely finding it hard. She noted that he has an enormous role while she has an even more significant one, and he had to take a back seat.
Her spouse of 14 years has been largely absent from Downing Street throughout this year.
When Labour secured victory in the election, the pair and their daughter, born in 2012, and son, born in 2015, vacated their four-bedroom residence in the prosperous South London area of Dulwich for the apartment above 10 Downing Street.
A former MP claiming familiarity with Ms Reeves stated that with Nick remaining in Oxford, she functions like a single parent during the week, which compounds the pressure.
Another acquaintance of the Chancellor described how she must carefully arrange her ministerial commitments around the children. She noted that nothing is set in stone as she attempts school runs when her schedule permits.
Nonetheless, Joicey did travel back from Oxford to support her following the notable incident last July when Reeves visibly wept on the government frontbenches of the Commons while Starmer, seemingly unaware, sat beside her.
A communication from the Blavatnik School of Government confirmed that Nick collaborates closely with the Dean and senior academics on establishing the School’s strategic vision.
The statement added that he oversees the school’s administrative staff in delivering the strategy and facilitating the institution’s teaching, research, and policy work.
Prior to this appointment, he held positions at HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, as a director-general within the Department for Work and Pensions, and at the British delegation to the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC.