June 12 (Reuters) - They say that pride comes before a fall, and that is certainly the case for Britain's finance minister Rachel Reeves and the pound when it comes to UK gross domestic product data.

Having referenced Britain's 0.7% first quarter GDP growth when unveiling the British government's spending plans on Wednesday, Reeves said Thursday's April UK GDP number was "clearly disappointing".

It showed Britain's economy shrank by 0.3% in April - the biggest monthly drop for 18 months.

April's GDP miss came 48 hours after soft UK labour data, and increases the probability of a dovish interest rate hold from the Bank of England next week (June 19) followed by a 25 basis point cut to 4.0% in August.

It also depressed the pound to a five-week low against the euro, 1.1747, with GBP/USD falling more than half-a-cent to an intra-day low of 1.3525.

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(Robert Howard is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)