Yahoo News Victoria Derbyshire Shuts Down Dominic Raab's 'Partisan' Accusation During BBC News Interview
Victoria Derbyshire was quick to shut down Raab's accusation (Photo: BBC)
Victoria Derbyshire was quick to shoot down accusations of being “partisan” during an interview with Dominic Raab.
On Monday afternoon, the deputy prime minister was a guest on BBC News, where he spoke about the vote of no confidence that had been triggered about Boris Johnson earlier in the day.
During the conversation, Raab suggested the vote would be of little interest to the public, stating: “Do we want to be spending the next period up until the next election focussed on those issues which the public care about? Or are we going to spend not just days, not just weeks but months focussed on a rather internal conversation amongst ourselves?
“I think the public will find that self-indulgent, and I think that will influence and sway many MPs with their decision later on today.”
“Or,” Victoria offered. “The public might think, ‘you know what? It’s right to get rid of him, because we don’t trust him’.”
A vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson was triggered on Monday morning (Photo: ALBERTO PEZZALI via Getty Images)
Raab conceded that “some may”, before adding: “I think overwhelmingly, given the majority at the last election, I think people expect us to be focussed on delivering on the promises that we made. As I said, the PM has got the big calls right.”
“Well, you keep saying that,” Victoria interjected, apologising for interrupting and saying: “All of you and your colleagues keep saying that. Some of the calls he got right. Not all of them.
“I mean, you’ve got to acknowledge the billions wasted on test and trace. The billions that you’ve written off from fraud through the furlough scheme. The fact that you allowed elderly people to be discharged from hospitals without being tested for Covid, before going back to their care homes and then seeding the illness throughout care homes up and down the country.”
Raab then retorted: “I think it’s easy to criticise from the luxury of being an armchair commentator or media commentator.”
“Mr Raab, I’m not criticising,” Victoria insisted. “I’m just saying there are a lot of calls you didn’t get right. And if you were being honest with the voters, you might also mention the big calls where you made mistakes.”
The cabinet minister then said: “Well, Victoria. You’re [being] your usual partisan self about all of this, and that’s fine. But what I would say and the message and the feedback I get is that people recognise that we went through a pandemic the likes of which we’d never seen before.”
After Raab defended the government’s actions, Victoria then hit back at his accusation of being “partisan”, adding: “Forgive me for pushing back on you, Mr Raab, but just because I ask questions you don’t like, it doesn’t mean I’m partisan.”
Dominic Raab accuses Victoria Derbyshire of being partisan after she point out that the govt haven't got all the big calls right.
Raab: Your usual partisan self about all of this..
Victoria: Just because I ask you questions that you don't like, doesn't mean I'm partisan 👍 pic.twitter.com/KgPLmbsPwV— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 6, 2022
Tory MPs will vote whether they want to keep Johnson as their leader between 6pm and 8pm tonight, after at least 54 Tory MPs handed in letters of no confidence in the prime minister.
If Johnson wins the no confidence vote, party rules mean another could not be held for another year.
However, if he loses, a leadership contest will be triggered to determine who will become the fourth leader of the Conservative party in six years.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
