0:00
Is she very stupid or is she very dishonest
0:03
I don't think that's fair. I think she made a decision. She panicked when she saw the awful figures that came in
0:11
But the figures are worse now. And the Treasury officials thought this is a good moment
0:18
to get rid of a policy that we've never really liked, put it in front of her, get it signed off
0:22
And the political reality has now hit that it was deeply unpopular
0:26
and it was the wrong thing to do and there were cleverer ways of doing it. and we have reversed
0:30
And the best thing to do, of course, when you get something wrong, is to reverse
0:35
You're kindly defending the Labour Party this evening and you basically said she's both stupid to have gone along with it last year
0:40
and she's dishonest now to pretend the finance is that much better because they're actually worse
0:45
Well, I think her ability to step back and look to see
0:50
where there are other levers that can be pushed is different now and that wasn't able to be done at the time
0:55
But I do think you're right in saying that it was a foolish thing to do so quickly, so early on
1:02
without giving yourself time to really look to see where the difficulties in the economy were
1:07
which they weren't around the winter fuel allowance. You may not want to answer, but does she have any credibility with your friends who are still on the Labour backbenches now
1:16
Or has this been a big dent to it? Look, I think that there is still a chance for Labour
1:23
to turn it around for the next election and to win probably with a coalition or a reduced majority
1:31
But if Rachel continues in post and continues in the vein that she has
1:38
that will be completely squandered. And she is the least liked when I'm a doorknock on the doors of everyone
1:44
and I think backbenchers know that. So either she needs to have a complete change of direction
1:52
or I think what's probably more likely before the next election, Keir Starmer will need to look at reshuffling
