A BBC presenter told Grant Shapps that the Tories are in “chaos” as Rishi Sunak braces himself for one of his biggest days since becoming prime minister.
John Kay said the PM had take on the job just over a year ago promising to end the drama which had marked Boris Johnson and Liz Truss’s time in office and had failed to do so.
But the defence secretary hit back by insisting the government had enjoyed “success” since Sunak took charge.
The clash on BBC Breakfast came as rival Tory factions meet to decide whether or not to back the prime minister’s flagship Rwanda legislation.
Kay told Shapps: “When he became prime minister last year, Rishi Sunak told us that he was going to end the political chaos.
“Yet here we have a situation a year later where there are genuine questions about his flagship piece of legislation, there are genuine questions about his own position as leader, you’ve got different factions of the Labour Party fighting one another over whether they’re going to back it or not, you’ve got a former home secretary and immigration minister saying it won’t work, you’re spending hundreds of millions of pounds on this with nothing to show for it.
“If this isn’t chaos what is?”
Shapps replied: “I know it suits your agenda to say that ...”
But Kay: “There’s no agenda, it’s what people are asking across the country.”
The minister then said: “Let me answer. I just don’t agree with you. [Small boat] Crossings slashed by a third down, inflation halved, the economy growing when every commentator and body was saying it would shrink this year.
“We are having success in these areas because yes, sometimes you have to fight these things through, yes you sometimes have arguments about them ... but the facts are we’re having success.”