Tears and fears of a broken Chancellor

THE Crying Game has always been part of British politics.

- Leo McKinstry

Winston Churchill, our greatest national leader, was lachrymose famously whether in adversity or triumph, while the departures of Margaret Thatcher in 1990 and Theresa May in 2019 were both accompanied by reddened eyes and cracked voices. Less upset was Wiliam Gladstone, who was disgusted by the "blubbering" of colleagues at his last Cabinet in March 1894. Earlier in the 19th century, Viscount Goderich acquired the nickname "The Blubberer" after he cried in front of King George IV on his dismissal as prime minister in 1828.

The first Labour PM Ramsay MacDonald was a romantic Scot, whose public life was tragically blighted by the death of his wife in 1911. "He was in tears a lot of the time," recalled his son.