Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was left fuming at Tory MP Richard Holden in a tense BBC interview clash in which she told him to he was ‘always so hostile’
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was left fuming at a Tory MP in a tense TV clash in which she told him to he was “always so hostile”.
The Cabinet Minister told Richard Holden to “take it down a notch” after he tried to repeatedly attack and interrupt her on a BBC panel for the local elections. The Tory MP tried to rip apart Labour’s first nine months in power, which included slinging personal insults about Ms Phillipson’s time in office.
Ms Phillipson, who became visibly furious during the exchange, hit back at Mr Holden’s brashness after 14 years in power. Speaking about his rant, she said: “You wouldn’t know from that, really, how badly the Conservatives were defeated last July.
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“Not an ounce of contrition, not an ounce of understanding about the terrible mess that they left behind. That’s why people kicked them out in big numbers, and that’s what we are turning around.”
She said he had spoken a “lot of nonsense” during his rant and said the Tories left “devastation when it came to the economy”. Mr Holden hit back and said the economy was growing faster under the Tories than now, repeatedly interrupting her to say that was “the truth, Bridget”.
Ms Phillipson stopped abruptly, responding: “Richard, you’re always so hostile. Just, let’s kind of just take it down a notch.” Mr Holden insisted he was telling the truth and the economy was growing faster.
She replied saying: “Do you think people really felt that the economy was working well…” She went to continue but was interrupted by Mr Holden again, and when she tried to start talking again, he then shouted back: “You asked a question and I give you an answer and then you attack me for answering. Come on, Bridget, you can’t have it both ways.”
She replied: “If I could just occasionally get a word in edgeways, Richard, you left a terrible mess behind and from everything that you said this evening, not an ounce of understanding.”
The pair continued to row about claims Mr Holden used his position in the Tory party to select a safe seat in the general election to give him a better chance of winning.
Elsewhere Mr Phillipson admitted tonight’s local election results will be a “challenge” for Labour. Asked whether any bad results could be a sign of the public’s view of Labour’s first months in powers, she said a lot needs fixing and the Government is “impatient” for change, just like the public. “Whatever happens tonight, we want to go further and faster in demonstrating the change that we’re bringing to people’s lives,” she added.
More than 1,600 council seats are up for grabs across 23 local authorities, while four regional mayors and two local mayors will be elected. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is expected to deal blows to both Labour and the Tories.
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