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To be fair to Trevor Phillips, we also had to stifle some laughter here too. Transport Secretary Mark Harper has endured a tough media round on Sunday morning – and his appearance on Sky News left the interviewer with split sides.
Harper was repeatedly asked whether Rishi Sunak would lead the Conservatives into the next election. The rumour mill is working in overdrive at the moment, with names like Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch being touted to replace him.
The Tories are currently polling at disastrous levels, with some surveys projecting that they’ll get less than 20% of the vote at the next election. One report suggests that they could be reduced to a miserly 25 seats, if public sentiment remains the same.
Mr. Sunak himself is facing an enormous amount of criticism. His plans to woo voters with the recent budget fell flat, and he has been accused of failing to deal with racism in the wake of rows regarding Lee Anderson and Frank Hester.
For now, Rishi will battle on as Prime Minister. But Mark Harper’s defence of his character would not have done much to reassure the team in 10 Downing Street. In fact, it took Trevor Phillips a good 20 seconds to regain his composure.
Harper repeated that the Tories ‘have a plan’, over and over again. When turning to his panel guests in the studio, Phillips struggled to complete the introductions – before cheekily suggesting that he is ‘sticking to the plan’ regardless:
It was a bruising morning for Harper, who also copped flak for his answers to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. Some intrepid viewers noticed that repetition was a key theme for the minister – who apparently couldn’t stop saying the word ‘clear’…
