Lord Cameron: ‘This is not a party that’s run out of ideas’ | The Battle for Number 10

Foreign secretary, Lord David Cameron, has given his thoughts on how the PM performed in the Sky leaders’ event, which saw Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer facing questions from Sky’s Beth Rigby and audience members in Grimsby.

Lord Cameron conceded that it’s “difficult” to fight an election after 14 years in power, but praised Rishi Sunak’s performance and criticised Sir Keir Starmer for being “misleading”.

Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/election-latest-labour-party-keir-starmer-manifesto-plaid-cymru-general-election-rishi-sunak-g7-summit-12593360

#labourparty #vote2024 #politics #generalelection #leadersevent #rishisunak #keirstarmer

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good morning foreign secretary good to see you thank you for taking the time how do you think it went last night I thought it was a it was a tough uh crowd for both of them the standout moment for me was K stabber being asked why did you say Corbin would be a great prime minister and him repeatedly saying what I’d never thought we were going to win the election you sort of think hold on why not either say it was wrong to say he was a great prime minister because otherwise people are left thinking well if you were misleading us then what are you misleading us about now I thought that was a stand out I thought rishy did very well it’s a tough crowd but he gives a very good account of himself he’s got all the policy detail all the knowledge about what’s happening in our Health Service and Beyond and I thought he did a good job you’re rearranging the deck chairs though aren’t you it’s a tough fighting election after 14 years in office is difficult and the last you know few years have been difficult because we’ve had these twin icebergs really of covid and of the Ukraine war that put up inflation to over 11% and Rich’s test really was can you get inflation down and get the economy growing again and he’s passed that test and I think that’s the that’s one of the things people should focus on in the last couple of years now it’s about who do you want for the future who’s got the plan who’s got the team and I think we’ve got a very strong offer that your colleagues are talking about super majorities reports that officials across the road are preparing for a 400 seat change how bad is it going to be well my view is that any time you spend in an election campaign talking about the outcome of that campaign when you don’t know what it’s going to going to be or indeed talking about polls when you don’t know whether they’re right or wrong is sort of wasted time better to spend the time comparing the plans comparing the leaders comparing the teams asking you know who’s got the plan to keep Britain safe and keep us prosperous because to me that’s what it’s all about it’s about security and prosperity and you’ve got with rousi sunak and the conservatives the plan to increase the defense spending the plan to reduce taxes the plan to grow the economy the plan to get 100,000 more young people into apprenticeships I mean i’ I’ve been quite struck actually I mean you know I’m not writing this campaign I’m a part of the campaign but I’m quite struck that every day the conservatives have come forward with some very exciting plans whether it’s national service whether it’s taking the pension out of tax whether it’s cutting stamp Duty for first-time buyers this is not a party that’s run out of ideas and then he leaves people on the beach in Normandy and comes back to do a television interview well he have said that he wish he had stayed but to be fair tell me about the conversation you had with him well I’m not going to do that because I’m part of a team did you try and tell him not to I’m not getting some all I can well don’t I mean what I would say is those stories you read in the newspapers where you know I was apoplectic I absolutely wasn’t at all uh it’s often sort of third person hearsay ends up in these newspaper columns look he had to make a decision Prime had to make decisions all the time he did the key event in Portsmouth did it brilliantly and it was a magnificent event he did the key event above the British D-Day beaches in Normandy at our new um commemorative Center which is a wonderful spot he did that and he did that bril no he did that job bril then he made the long-standing decision to go back to the UK and immediately wasn’t a long-standing decision he already called in the election a couple of weeks before but he was he wasn’t planning to stay beyond that event as soon as he gets back he says I made a mistake I wish I’d stayed longer and I President Biden I I so what happens so put you in the picture there was not there wasn’t some sort of event that I was I was present at the the American and French event um I didn’t actually Grant shaps was deputizing I I was there and Ma that’s not a good thing that he was deputizing at least if you were a former prime minister presid St well if it was a mod complicated story yeah I think we should leave but President Ma asked to have a word with me so I went forward to have a chat with him and he said let’s have a quad photo and that’s you know Germany France Britain America it wasn’t an event I was at with the other three leaders it was a photograph um and uh we talked about um I can’t remember what we talked about we talked about probably what was going on did anybody say where was rishy no are you sure yes okay um but people you know in all seriousness uh want to know about taxes that’s what they want to know about there these big gaffs uh that we’ve seen the prime Ministry looked totally Crest swallen yesterday what however you want to describe it he did he looked as though he didn’t want to be there anymore more but he continues to tell us that taxes will go down if you win the next election and that’s what Grant shaps we’re just talking about him told me yesterday that’s not the case they will go up if you win the well what’s going to happen if we win the election is we’re going to cut National Insurance by another 2% we’re going to get rid of national insurance for self-employed people we’re going to cut the tax on stamp Duty for buying a house to push it to it’s over 400,000 before you start paying it and we’re going to keep the people on the basic state pension which is rising quite rightly we’re going to make sure that isn’t tax now those are bankable tax cuts from a conservative government which we fully costed in our Manifesto paid for by dealing with tax avoidance which we’ve done every year we’ve raised something like6 billion pounds from cracking down on tax avoidance and from welfare reform where you know it’s only quite it’s only quite a modest sum we’re hoping to raise compared with the needs now there’s a contrast between those tax reductions and labors plans which involve a lot of tax increases but they’re not telling us about them but taxes will go up under a future conservative government no what’s going to happen is that they will what is going to happen is we’re going to cut those key tax rates and that will make a difference to the tax burden will be higher well the point about you you can always get ta atled that well you can always get the tax burden down by simply borrowing more but the the key question is are you going to control public spending in a way that’s going to enable you to reduce tax rates we are labor Arts yeah but the tax burden will increase under the next under a conservative government should you win the next election what what is going to happen is tax rates are going to come down as I say the the thing to look at is the overall burden of Taxation and borrowing you can always change the tax burden by increasing borrowing but we’re saying no no we must make sure that the debt to GDP ratio is falling and why that’s so important in many ways is um that is your insurance against future disasters and difficulties so the fact that my government managed to reduce the deficit from you know almost 11% down to 3% meant that we can start shrinking our debt burden as a share of our GDP and that meant when Co when covid hit we had the financial capacity to deal with the crisis and this government wants to do the same reform one point behind in the polls um Nigel farage has been a thorn in your side for a long time well what what I would say first of all on the opinion polls as I’ve said let not was our time talking about those but the crucial fact is if you’re a reform voter or a potential reform voter I suspect what you want is you want lower taxes you want lower immigration and you want strong defenses in a dangerous World you’ll get all of those things with a conservative government you’ll get none of them with the labor government and yet if you vote for reform you’re more likely to get K sto in Downing Street because there are only two people ultimately that can walk up that street and form the government after the next election and that’s sunak and starma he has a thorn in your side though isn’t he well anyone who’s not standing for the conservatives is a thorn in my side because I want us to win how many times over the last I don’t know 10 years or so if you woken up in the middle of the night and looked at yourself in the mirror and thought I wish I’d said 2third majority on that referendum look I that’s not the way we do things in the UK no look we made a promise I made you have no I I think I I made a promise um in in 201 actually made a promise in 201 two years before the election I said we were going to have a renegotiation and a referendum to deal with this issue I kept that promise I think it’s important politicians do keep their promises I campaigned as hard as I could on the side to stay in and I lost and that’s why I resigned what you promised to do after the 5th of July what I promise to do after the 5th of July if the Prime Minister will have me is to carry on as foreign secretary in a very difficult I think wants you insecure well no I said if the Prime Minister RI sunak wants me I’m sure k St doesn’t want me um but I’m fighting for us to win this election and to continue as foreign secretary in a very dangerous and difficult world yeah and if uh the conservatives lose what will you do what’s the plan if if my mother had Wheels she’ be a bicycle I don’t answer questions beginning with the word if I did offer to write Mel stride CV for him earlier in the week I mean well that’s um very thoughtful of you but um I’m we got 21 days to go I know from the 2015 election that you you you fight for every vote you fight for every seat and the people decide that’s the way it works it’s not the commentators it’s not me it’s not you it’s not the polls it’s not John Curtis even ultimately the people decide and they’ve got a choice and it’s not a referendum on the government it’s a choice between two competing visions and I think we got good leader we got a good team he was broken yesterday I don’t AC that I watched it I I I watched it I you know those are tough questions but I thought actually particularly that question on the Health Service when he was talking about his own experience about Pharmacy about what was available in Grimsby about the modernization of healthcare this is you see it in cabinet I mean he is absolutely on top of I’ve grilled you lots of times in that format you know over the years I’ve known you a long time and you don’t you know your head has always been up you’ve always whatever you thought about afterwards you’ve always been on it whereas he didn’t he looked he looked I think you’re over interpreting that I I was watching I was sitting at home watching on television and I saw someone who was totally in command of the detail and the brief and that’s what you see you know when you go to cabinet and it’s interesting watching someone else chair the cabinet he is always the best brief person in the room he’s read everything he’s understood everything and he’s got good values I thought that also came across um last night it is if you think of an extraordinary story his parents came to this country and in one generation he he’s prime minister of our country that’s an extraordinary story about him and his family it’s also an extraordinary story about our democracy and about what uh look we still got lots of problems of racism and difficulties and blocked opportunities but we are building a meritocratic democratic country in a quite remarkable way what do his parents what did his parents do I’m kidding I’m kidding we know he tells us all the time as just Kia dama to be fair and his so you’re not giving up no no I’m I’m never giving up um and and you know as I said I’ve really I really enjoyed being part of this team he’s a very effective leader I think we have a good team too I think you know Jeremy Hunt’s been a very effective Chancellor James cleverly excellent home Secret I’ve tried to do my best at the foreign office keeping us safe in this dangerous world and as I say normally at the end of 14 years you might be running out of ideas there’s plenty of Petrol in the tank um and there’s also a huge amount of exciting ideas coming out in our Manifesto okay uh I’ve got to let you go because we’re massively overrunning but you know this this guy who’s standing Craig Williams um who’s the aid who uh put a bet on um for when the election should be having been in close conversations with the Prime Minister that’s not on is it it’s uh not on very foolish but he is now being investigated by the gambling commission I think we need to let them do their work they have considerable Powers he’s also got another investigation in front of his electorate and he’ll have to justify himself to to them um but let’s let the gambling commission do their work okay it’s good to talk to you as always