A Tory frontbencher has admitted he has “no idea” what one of his ministerial colleagues is up to while holidaying in Greece.
Yesterday The Mirror revealed that Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker had jetted off after being assured by the PM that it was ok to do so. Mr Baker maintained he is working hard on getting re-elected from Vasiliki.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said there are “hundreds” of Conservative candidates “pounding the pavement” up and down the country. But when Sky News host Kay Burley pointed out this doesn’t include Mr Baker, he said: “I can’t comment on what Steve is doing or where he is or what he’s up to.
“He may be designing his literature, doing all sorts of things, maybe making telephone calls, I have no idea. But what I can tell you is that we care fighting for absolutely every vote.”
Mr Stride said: “What I know is that there are hundreds of Conservative candidates up and down the country pounding the pavements, knocking on doors, working for every single vote. This is an election that really matters.”
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Wycombe MP Mr Baker has a slim majority of just 4,214. Labour claims his decision to go on holiday despite Rishi Sunak calling a snap election is a sign that he’s given up on holding onto his seat.
His Labour opponent, Emma Reynolds, told The Mirror: “I am staggered that Steve Baker has decided to go on holiday in the middle of the General Election campaign. He clearly doesn’t care about his constituents.”
But the Tory minister maintained this isn’t the case. He told The Mirror: “The Prime Minister told everyone we could go on holiday and then called a snap election. So I’ve chosen to do my campaign work in Greece.”
Asked whether voters would be angered by his decision to jet away, he said: “My experience has been that when I talk to people who are quite keen to vote for me, they say: ‘Good on you’. I’ve been campaigning for months and my wife deserves to have her husband go away for a much needed break. It’s the only holiday we’ve got planned for the summer.”
He denied it was a sign of disgruntlement or that he’d thrown in the towel. Mr Baker stated: “It’s simply a sign when he (Mr Sunak) said to everybody when he was asked ‘you can go on holiday’, we booked a holiday.” He admitted that “one or two” people have a problem with him going away and said it is “unconventional”.
It is unclear whether other Tories have gone away after being given the PM’s blessing before the election announcement. Parliament had been set to be in recess this week, and most didn’t expect the country to go to the polls until the autumn.
Mr Baker said he didn’t know whether others had carried on with holiday plans, despite the PM desperately touring the country touting for votes. He said: “I suspect if they have, they haven’t had the courage to say so. But I would rather be honest with the public.”