‘Now tell me, Mr Philp, how long before you were made a junior minister did you decide to switch from backing Remain to becoming a Bullshit Boris Brexit supporter?’ The question which BBC’s Jo Coburn did not put to Chris Philp on TV today
This morning’s General Election headlines were all about Bullshit Boris Johnson attempting to run a damage limitation operation after a series of political disasters yesterday.
And then Tory Central Office decided to wheel out Chris Philp for a slot on national television.
Philp’s latest car-crash interview came on BBC2’s lunchtime political show today, Politics Live, where the Conservative candidate actually suggested, live on air, that the NHS’s cancer patients are less concerned about longer waiting times for treatment because survival rates are on the rise.
Such was the numb-skullery of Philp’s claim that he even drew a rebuke from one of the other guests, Iain Dale, the LBC presenter who was himself once a Conservative election candidate.
Philp managed to claim that the NHS’s missed waiting targets – figures published last month are the worst on record – are because of the success in persuading people to come forward.
“The reason why waiting times for diagnosis are going up is because we are encouraging more people to get themselves screened, which is actually a good thing,” said Philp, who is seeking re-selection in the safe Tory seat of Croydon South, where he has been MP since 2015.
“Cancer survival rates, the outcomes, have been improving dramatically,” Philp said.
Philp, who backed Remain in the 2016 European Union referendum, was recently promoted by the Prime Minister to a role as a junior justice minister, the promotion coming after Philp switched to backing Bullshit Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan…
After having been corrected over his figures by presenter Jo Coburn when he claimed the Tories are offering “record investment” in the NHS, Philp went on to try to explain: “The outcomes, cancer survival rates, which is what people really care about – am I going to survive this terrible illness? – they’re going up.”
Waiting times for NHS treatment are the worst on record
It was at this point that Dale interjected to suggest that the survival figures would be better still if the NHS was meeting its targets and treating cancer sufferers at least two months sooner than is being achieved at present.
Philp then tried to claim that the Conservatives were able to promise billions more for the NHS because “the economy is strong” – on the day it was revealed there was no economic growth for three months in a row.
Health experts warned the dismal situation – emergency departments are also at their worst ever level – were poised to deteriorate further over the winter.
Philp was roundly criticised. “This is simply astonishing. A diagnosis of cancer is frightening and we all know timely treatment is vital,” was the reaction of Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth. “That fact that on every measure cancer waiting times are worsening under the Tories is a damning indictment of their record.”
Listen to our Under The Flyover Election podcasts, including Philp refusing to apologise for Boris Johnson’s racist and homophobic attitudes:
Olga FitzRoy
Anna Jones
Chris Philp
Simon Sprague
Peter Underwood
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He was on last week too: the air of desperation to follow the brief however much bollocks it contained was palpable. I can only imagine he keeps getting sent out because he’s one of the few London Tories who’ll keep his seat despite such eye-watering displays of hopelessness.
Not even Ottaway would gettaway with this.
My perception of Phlip – regardless of party concerns – is that he is a decent, effective constituency MP; yet one who apparently flounders whenever he makes a foray onto the national stage.
So Croydon South (which he will hold easily) should be the limit of his ambition as he seems to lack the charisma and intellect to push beyond.
The same could also be said for Sarah Jones. Regardless of party concerns, she appears to be a decent, effective constituency MP; and the people of Croydon Central would do well to retain her for that if nothing else.
However, she also seems to struggle when the national spotlight falls upon her – for example, making somehting of a hash of an apperance on this very same show a few weeks ago.
I have no sense of Steve Reed whatsoever.
It looks like the fate of Croydon is to be represented by an incompetent, tribal council and workaday MPs who deliver such sway they can around here yet aren’t destined for the giddy heights*.
*Nothing giddy nor high about being a PPS or Shadow Housing, Home Office or Local Government I’m afraid.