When Rachel Reeves was appointed chancellor she became the first woman to hold the position in its 800-year history. Repeatedly she reminded us of this, proclaiming that she was "deeply proud" of this fact and how it showed girls and young women there should be "no ceiling on your ambitions" All true. But here's the small print. One of the conditions of being a trailblazer is that you must actually blaze a trail. Thanks to Reeves’s lamentable stewardship of the public finances she has been nothing more than a struggling ember.

One unable to ignite and which, after today's budget is likely to leave nothing but a messy in-the-red smudge. This is the danger of making noise about your gender rather than focusing on your suitability and competence. If you shine the spotlight on being a woman, you cannot then complain when others pick up on the narrative you set. And yet the Chancellor – a woman (yes) poised today to drive a wrecking ball through the economy and the pockets of hard-working Britons – appears not to have read that memo.

Instead she has complained she is “sick of people mansplaining” how to be Chancellor. Four words that tell you where her mind is focused. But as many women – including Kemi Badenoch – have pointed out, you don’t have to be a man to observe what a disastrous job Reeves has made of running the nation’s finances.

But it seems the chancellor – the first woman chancellor, remember – wants it both ways. She threw down the gauntlet, proclaiming to be the first female in the job, then adopted the classic weaponising of feminist narrative to call it out.

No mention of the fact her personal approval ratings, now at -52, are at a record low this month: even during Britain's economic crises of the past, no other chancellor has been so unpopular since numbers began to be recorded in 1976.

Is calling Reeves “Rachel from Accounts” sexist? Hardly. The nickname has stuck not only because she has shown what appears to be limited to an entry-level, rigid, unimaginative understanding of the nation’s books.

But because giving politicians irreverent nicknames is one of Britain’s great democratic and comic traditions. Former chancellor Philip Hammond was “Spreadsheet Phil” for his meticulous bean-counting. Politicians are skewered daily by cartoonists, satirists and shows like Spitting Image. It’s how we keep our leaders honest – by satirising their characteristics.

Of course, where there is genuine sexism, sexual objectification, or the deliberate demeaning of women purely because of their gender, I will always stand on the barricades. But that’s precisely the problem.

Serious issues facing women – real misogyny, real workplace discrimination, the real indignities countless women endure – are trivialised when one of the most powerful people in the country claims victimhood because she is being criticised for doing her job.

And a job which after today will drain the cash from our pockets, the savings we’ve worked for, the businesses we run and the future we want for our children. Frankly, being called “Rachel from Accounts” is getting off lightly.

Reeves described becoming Chancellor as her “dream job.” And many women – myself included – wanted to believe she would show us what she could do. I’m not a Labour supporter, but there is always room to cheer for women who not just smash through barriers – and (this is the crucial bit) – achieve greatness.

Equally, I believe in egalitarianism. Not quota-driven politics. Appointments should always be made of people who are the best for the job. It's why militant feminism has so often been an own goal – obscuring the nobler ideas of a fair society by spoiling for a fight over the small stuff.

Rachel from Accounts lands because it speaks a wider truth. If Reeves wanted to project authority ahead of today’s Budget, she should have resisted the urge to complain, or to “woman-splain” her way into the victim role.

Her ambition and focus, instead, should have always been to become one of Britain's greatest politicians.

After her dismal tenure at the Exchequer and following today`s budget sadly the first female chancellor is likely to be a footnote in history.

And that, for women, is the greatest disservice of all.