[Abernathy]

Junior Minister, Department of Health.

She was being interviewed on the Today programme this morning' she thought to talk about the "new" proposals the government is apparently announcing today for the NHS , but inevitably, she was asked about the Zahawi farrago,

Did anybody else hear it?

She has to be the most clueless and inept government minister put up for media appearances I have ever seen or heard.
Hard to believe how bloody awful she was.

[Andy McDandy]

Seems to be their standard strategy. Send in somebody to ostensibly talk about X. When the interviewer tries to probe the minister on issue Y, claim no knowledge, and try repeatedly to push the "good news story" that is issue X. If it works, the interviewer looks like a bully, and the minister doing their best to talk about their area of expertise.

Of course, this relies on us thinking that the minister has no more knowledge of a hot topic involving a colleague of theirs than us plebs, that they didn't think for a second that the contentious issue would be raised, that between morning media gigs they couldn't spend any time finding out more about it, and that their constant parroting of "I know as much as you, not my area, private matter for them to sort out" sounds the least bit convincing.

[Youngian]

She has to be the most clueless and inept government minister put up for media appearances I have ever seen or heard.
Hard to believe how bloody awful she was.

Maybe not but I’ll start a separate thread for Lucy Frazer who gets worse with every appearance.

I can see the government not bothering to send anyone for the main media rounds. Zahawi was best at taking the shots and he was pretty ludicrous. And what have BBC presenters to gain by holding back now Sunak’s authority is draining?

[mattomac]

I believe she is the minister who during Covid started to smirk during some questioning by Susannah Reid and was put down Reid and then Morgan.

But yeah what about 1992.

[Samanfur]

Minister of State for Social Care, starting in 2020.

I'll leave it there.

[kreuzberger]

I actually feel quite sorry for Whateley and would be the worst of all people to interview her. It's the eyes.

You, or at least I, get an overriding sense that she is pleading for mercy, set fast in the knowledge that she is the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, probably in the wrong body - both bipedally and celestially.

She is suffering from a kind of inverse Dunning-Kruger complex. She knows just how out of her depth she is, blighted by congenital stupidity. And those smiles and half-laughs; they are just an often unsuccessful plea to call the puppies off.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The days when the Tories could whistle up a presentable experienced backbencher/ select committee chair to be a minister, like when they appointed Sir John Wheeler to the Northern Ireland Office, have long gone.

[satnav]

Until recently there were plenty of junior minister more than happy to do the media rounds defending the indefensible knowing that one day they efforts might be rewarded with a promotion but with the next election less than two years away and the Tories looking likely to lose power I'm not sure that junior MPs now have the appetite to constantly defend the government knowing that future promotions are now highly unlikely.

As the election gets closer I could see a number of junior ministers resigning so that they can put all their efforts into hanging onto their seats or finding a good job outside of politics.

[Abernathy]

See also: Chris Philp.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The way they’re going they’ll have David TC Davies doing it soon.

[Abernathy]

Jeebus. Whateley now on the Question Time panel.

So fucking dense that light bends around her.

[Youngian]

Jeebus. Whateley now on the Question Time panel.

So fucking dense that light bends around her.

I hope the quality of MPs happy to serve under Boris Johnson is becoming apparent to even the slowest of voters.
Noticed Dia the Tufton Street sock puppet on the panel has abandoned the BlueKIP culture war and even gave an empathetic take on life as a migrant. Unsurprising as the nativist grunt wing of Brexit were always going to be cast aside by global free market head bangers as soon as they fucked up at the tiller.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The quality could get even worse soon. If your seat's in danger, would you prefer to spend the run up to the election sticking up for Sunak, or being a full time "local champion"? Whately's seat in rural-small town Kent is fairly safe one might think, so could be a promotion heading her way.