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Victoria Derbyshire has been described as a ‘breath of fresh air’ by viewers, after she slotted in as a replacement for Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC’s flagship political show. The late substitute made the most of her opportunity, by giving Grant Shapps an incredibly tough time.
The Tory minister, who was recently put in charge of the defence portfolio, was being grilled about the potential scrapping of northern legs of the HS2 project. There are now whispers amongst government officials that the new rail network could be significantly downsized.
Cancelling infrastructure planned for Leeds and Manchester would mark a significant departure from the government’s claims that they want to ‘level up’ the north. Over the weekend, Andy Burnham suggested that northern regions would have to ‘level themselves up’.
Victoria Derbyshire was also keen to hold Shapps and his party to account. She accused the Tories of overseeing a major ‘white elephant’, and when the minister tried to deflect from the question, the stand-in host was quick to get things back on track.
In fact, Derbyshire interjected on a number of occasions in an attempt to elicit a straight answer out of Mr. Shapps. Growing more uncomfortable, the host also read the politician one of his own quotes, which previously claimed HS2 would bring ‘jobs and prosperity’.
The tense exchange ended with Shapps keeping his cards close to his chest, but he failed to show much authority on the subject. A clip of the cringeworthy interview was shared online earlier, and you can watch it here:
It wasn’t just the Tories on the chopping block either. Derbyshire also went head-to-head with Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, and grew impatient with his inability to answer a yes or no question regarding a coalition agreement with Labour…
