Downing Street has declined to deny reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves engaged in a heated exchange with her US counterpart, Scott Bessent, during a visit to Washington DC earlier this year.
The Financial Times reported that Ms Reeves had an argument with Mr Bessent while attending the International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings.
The alleged confrontation reportedly stemmed from Ms Reeves’ public criticism of the US-led war against Iran prior to her transatlantic trip.
According to the newspaper, Mr Bessent subsequently “berated” her on the sidelines of the gathering.
Ms Reeves is said to have hit back that she did not work for the US treasury secretary and disliked how he had spoken to her, before reiterating her argument that America lacked clear goals going into the conflict and was not making the world safer.
When questioned on Tuesday, the prime minister’s official spokesperson appeared to avoid refuting the reports, though he did insist that Ms Reeves and her US counterpart have since had “constructive” engagements.
The spokesperson 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.
“I think there is a readout from the US Department of Treasury, which made clear the productive nature of their relationship.”
The chancellor emerged as one of the most outspoken UK government critics of the US decision to go to war in Iran before travelling to the IMF meetings in April.
She criticised US president Donald Trump’s decision to go to war, which has resulted in Iran retaliating with strikes against Gulf states and the closure of the vital oil and gas shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
At the time, she 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.”
The chancellor has also argued that the best economic policy now for the UK and globally is de-escalation of the Middle East crisis and the reopening of the strait.
