It has been a wild January for Rachel Reeves and frankly for economics in the UK and the world.When Labour swept to victory last summer, Reeves pledged she would be an "iron" chancellor, reining in public spending and improving the lives of working people through growing the economy.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves spelled out her plans to revive the country's slow-moving economy on Wednesday, adding to recent pledges to reform investment and planning rules with a commitment to back airport expansion at Heathrow.

That left Rachel Reeves, Britain’s chancellor, with an uphill task when she arrived at the Swiss alpine town to court investors at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. She met a raft of Wall Street bosses,