An excruciating morning round for Pat McFadden. First on Times Radio, where he was asked three times if it was “fair” for Starmer to sack Olly Robbins. Eventually, the blood from a stone answer came:
“Look, of course as a Cabinet member, I support the Prime Minister’s decisions. He took the decision he couldn’t continue with Olly Robbins in post because he viewed the material that had been withheld from him, not shared with him, as really important in making his decision…”
Then on Sky News, it turned out McFadden hadn’t even asked Number 10 if it was true that Starmer asked for an ambassadorship for Matthew Doyle. It took almost three minutes for an answer to emerge:
“No, because I don’t think the Prime Minister would be in the position of picking up a phone on a personnel matter like that…”
You know it’s bad when even Pat McFadden is dropping word salads…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”