Conservative party conference has turned out to be a great opportunity – for Tory MPs and ministers alike to point the finger that is. Since Monday morning, the biggest blame game doing the rounds in Birmingham has been over who is responsible for Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s embarrassing climb-down to reverse the cut to the 45p income tax rate.
This morning Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has thrown another name into the mix: ’twas, in fact, the media what done it. Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, he said: ‘You guys were constantly talking about the 45p tax rate which is why we had to take it away.’ Clearly surprised Kay fired back: ‘You think it was the media? It wasn’t because it was the wrong thing to do?’
Nothing to do with the plunging pound or backbench rumblings in the Tory party, eh James?
While Burley tried to clarify his answer with him, the Foreign Secretary ploughed on, listing all the things the media had stopped them talking about: ‘Cutting tax for working families, support for people trying to pay their energy bills…’.
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