A Tory minister left viewers cringing during a ‘car crash’ interview over the betting scandal engulfing Rishi Sunak’s election campaign.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was grilled by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire as pressure mounts on the PM to suspend Tories who are being probed by the Gambling Commission for alleged bets on the timing of the election. And Keegan struggled to keep her cool during the heated Newsnight exchange – and got roasted on X, formerly Twitter, for ‘smirking’ throughout.
Broadcasting powerhouse Derbyshire pushed Ms Keegan on why Mr Sunak hasn’t acted – arguing it would “take him five minutes to find out” who had placed alleged bets.
The Tory minister appeared to brush off the seriousness of the accusations, as she said: “This issue, will be come and gone like many other issues. The most important thing for this election is who you choose to be your next prime minister. And who you trust.”
But the Newsnight presenter refused to drop her questioning, probing further: “Everyone will remember that when Rishi Sunak became prime minister he stood on the steps of Downing Street and talked about running a government with integrity, professionalism and accountability. Under his premiership, other Tory MPs have been suspended.
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“Mark Menzies, in April this year after allegations he misused campaign funds after he made a late night phone call to pay off some ‘bad people’. Lee Anderson was suspended under PM Rishi Sunak in February after claiming Sadiq Khan was under the control of Islamists. Another Tory MP, Scott Benton, was suspended last April. So, he did it then, but not now. Why?”
Ms Keegan’s response left viewers gobsmacked, as she seemed to complain that Tory MPs get a bad rap. The Education Secretary said: “There’s more than 350 MPS and for someone like me, you would pick out some bad cases of people who have done the wrong things and then they’ve been dealt with once facts have come to light. But all across the country, every day there’s MPs like me, Conservative MPs, working their best for people and you never hear about the other 350 MPs.”
The fiery exchange boiled over when Derbyshire pressed the Tory minister on whether she would personally campaign for the members of her party caught up in the scandal. She asked Ms Keegan: “Would you spend Conservative campaign money, resources and time in those areas?”
A heated Ms Keegan then interrupted and argued: “Well that isn’t my decision, that is a decision for the Prime Minister and that is a decision for the campaign. I would always want due process to be done. If I was accused of anything or if anybody else was, I would always want due process to be done”
Derbyshire looks baffled and stopped the politician her tracks, and said: “You’re a straight talker” to which Ms Keegan replied in a shrill tone “I am a straight talker and I have answered the question”.
The presenter pressed once more: “But if due process doesn’t conclude until after the election, would you campaign now?”
Ms Keegan, looking rather flustered, replied: “Due process has to be done, it has to be fair. You can’t be judge and jury. It’s not the journalist’s role, it’s not my role to be judge and jury. There’s other people who do have that role and they should do that job. And hopefully they can do that as quickly as possible. And what they’ll be trying to work out is who knew what when.”
In one final searing blow, the Newsnight presenter asked whether Ms Keegan had placed bet on the date of the election. The politician scoffed and said “of course I didn’t, no.” When asked if she knows anyone who did, she said “absolutely not” while smirking.
Viewers were left seething after watching the heated exchange, with one dubbing it a ‘car crash’ interview. Another said: “These people are clowns”.
A third X user wrote: “The smirk! Yuk” while another added “Exasperated. It’s the only word I can find.”
Others were left furious after Ms Keegan’s comments on the 350 MPs ‘working their best’ as one wrote: “And no one say F******g Thank you for doing a fabulous job ????”
A further five police officers are reportedly being probed by the Gambling Commission over allegedly betting on the date of the General Election.
A total of six officers are now understood to be being probed, as well as four Tories, according to the Telegraph. The revelation came as the Met Police were forced to deny accusations it had leaked the identities of Tories to the press.