Tory minister put on the spot on Question Time over Matt Hancock messages

03 March 2023 , 02:37

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Graham Stuart was put on the spot about Matt Hancock's leaked comments on Thursday's BBC Question Time (Image: BBC)

A Tory minister was put on the spot about Matt Hancock's "embarrassing" leaked pandemic WhatsApp messages on last night's BBC Question Time.

Graham Stuart moved to distance himself from the ex-Health Secretary's alleged comments about teaching unions during a razor-sharp interrogation by host Fiona Bruce on Thursday evening's show.

It came after Matt Hancock appeared to call the unions "a bunch of absolute a***s" in screenshots of a private Whatsapp conversation with Gavin Williamson published by The Telegraph this week.

Schools across the UK had been closed for two months at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with the exception of vulnerable children and those whose parents were key workers.

Graham Stuart moved to distance himself from the former Health minister's alleged comments about teaching unions (BBC)

Now Minister of State for Energy, Graham Stuart served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports in 2020 but did not feature in any of the high-profile leaked texts.

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But Hancock's comments, which were made while he was still in post during the pandemic, seemed to now leave his former colleague in an awkward position as the Question Time panel and audience debated the contents of the leaks.

After Labour's Jonathan Reynolds called for the independent inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic to be published by the end of the year, host Fiona Bruce sharply turned the focus to the Tory representative on the panel, saying: "Graham, has it been embarrassing to read these WhatsApps out in the public domain?"

Fiona Bruce asked if it had been 'embarrassing to read these WhatsApps' (BBC)

"You've got Matt Hancock describing teaching unions as 'absolute a***s'. Do you agree with that?"

After asking Fiona to clarify whether she was speaking about Hancock's comments, Graham said "no".

But Fiona immediately fired across another question, asking: "What about Matt Hancock talking about not testing everyone that comes into care homes because it would 'muddy the waters'?"

The Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness voiced his support for an independent inquiry (BBC)

The Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness replied by voicing his support for the inquiry, saying: "This needs to be looked at properly and that is why we have an independent inquiry... we would all like to hear from it sooner rather than later, but it is an independent inquiry and we have to let it decide."

Fiona also mentioned Matt Hancock's clarification of the leaked comments, in which he claimed that he wanted to test people being taken into care homes but could not do it because of limited capacity.

Other topics of discussion on Thursday night's show included the new Brexit deal in Northern Ireland, which sparked a heated three-way debate between GB News presenter Tom Harwood, Graham Stuart and SNP's Kirsty Blackman before things were moved along.

Benedict Tetzlaff-Deas