Treasury lavatory may get makeover for first female chancellor

A lavatory at the Treasury is set to get a makeover in anticipation of Rachel Reeves becoming Britain’s first ever female chancellor.

Ms Reeves is on track to become the first woman in charge of the Treasury next week with Labour expected to comfortably win the general election.

This has led to conversations in the Civil Service about whether it is “appropriate” to retain a urinal in the chancellor’s private bathroom.

According to the Financial Times, 13 boxes of period products have now been placed above the sink in a tiled room which is said to date back to Edwardian times.

A Treasury insider told the newspaper: “There has been a discussion about whether it’s appropriate to have a urinal in there and whether it should be removed.”

A Conservative Party source was also quoted as saying: “Not only are they measuring the curtains, but they’re also doing up the bathroom.”

Labour is urging its supporters to ignore the opinion polls, which continue to show the party around 20 points ahead, as it seeks to guard against voter apathy.

Sir Tony Blair, the former prime minister, on Friday told Labour staffers to show “no complacency” in the final week of the campaign during a surprise visit to party headquarters.

During a five-minute pep talk, he is understood to have said there was “no point being in politics” unless the party could deliver change.

In an interview with The Guardian, Ms Reeves said she would seek to make a similar impact on the lives of women to Barbara Castle, who introduced the Equal Pay Act, and Harriet Harman, who brought in the Equalities Act.

Vowing to “close the gender pay gap once and for all”, she said “everybody can do something” to reduce the disparity in pay between male and female employees.

Ms Reeves also referred to the chancellor role as “the last glass ceiling in politics”. All three female British prime ministers have been Conservative, while every Labour prime minister has been male.

A spokesman for Ms Reeves said: “We are not doing a running commentary on toilet arrangements.”