Chris Philp, who held a key Treasury role during Liz Truss’ short spell in No10, was pressed by Laura Kuenssberg to say sorry as the Tories try and move on from the misery caused when in power
A former Treasury ally of Liz Truss refused FOUR times to apologise for the chaos the Tories unleashed in an excruciating TV exchange.
Chris Philp, who is now Shadow Home Secretary, was told that not saying sorry “drives people bananas” by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. The Conservative frontbencher, who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury during Ms Truss’ short spell in charge, admitted that “mistakes were made” – but offered no apology despite being repeatedly pressed.
It comes after his colleague, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, vowed “never again” to pledge unfunded tax cuts as the Tories try to move on. Asked for the first time if he would apologise, Mr Philp said: “Well I think Mel, openly and honestly acknowledged that mistakes were made in that time. Mistakes were made. And what Mel was saying is that those mistakes will never be made again by a Conservative administration.”
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He went on to accuse Nigel Farage’s Reform of “making extravagant promises about massive tax cuts and increases in welfare that are completely unfunded”. But Ms Kuenssberg refused to drop the matter, saying: “You were the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the time. There were £45billion of unfunded tax cuts. Mortgage rates went soaring, there had to be emergency intervention.
“I’ll ask you again – do you want to just say sorry for that? Maybe so you can move on?”
Mr Philp stammered: “Well, I think huge mistakes were made…” But the BBC host cut in: “Isn’t this precisely the thing that drives people bananas about politicians? You make a speech in London, your colleague makes a speech in London expressing contrition, which is a fancy way for saying we got it wrong, we’re sorry.
“Will you say sorry to people for the Liz Truss implosion?” Mr Philp continued: “Oh, well, that was pressed on this Mel Stride and he said mistakes were made.
“And it’s not going to happen again. It’s very, very clear indeed. And it’s relevant because we see another party, Reform, saying you know what Liz Truss said times, times five times three on a whole bigger scale. So we’ve learnt from that episode and those mistakes will never be made again.”
Ms Kuenssberg tried one more time, asking: “As a as a human being, if you make a mistake, you say, yeah, we messed up and you just say, then you say, sorry.” The Shadow Home Secretary retorted: “Look, we’ve been really clear. I mean, I don’t know how many more times to say it was a mistake. They got it wrong. And those mistakes will never be made again.”