Nick Ferrari cut short an interview with a minister today after he refused to apologise for the financial chaos caused by the Tory government.
The veteran LBC presenter told Chris Philp “let’s leave it” after the policing minister declined to say sorry for the financial chaos unleashed by the September mini-budget.
The fiscal statement spooked the markets, sent the pound plunging and ended Liz Truss’s premiership.
New prime minister Rishi Sunak and his chancellor Jeremy Hunt hope their Autumn budget on November 17 will reassure the markets that the government is now in control of public finances.
Tory insiders had previously briefed journalists that it was Philp, Treasury chief secretary at the time, who came up with the idea to cut the 45p tax rate. He has since denied it.
On his show this morning, Ferrari quoted governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey who was asked last night how close the UK came to “financial Armageddon” after the mini budget.
Bailey had told Channel 4 News: “The messages we were getting from the markets were that it was hours.”
Referencing Bailey’s comments, Ferrari asked the Tory MP for Croydon South: “Do you think the public deserves an apology from you - reminding everyone you were effectively second in command of the Treasury?
“Now is your opportunity to say - I’m sure you were well motivated - but simply to apologise for what you and your senior colleagues did.”
Philp said that decisions around the mini budget were taken “principally” by the then prime minister and to a lesser extent former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.
“They took those decisions, as you would expect they were taken to the very top.”
Ferrari interrupted him: “You didn’t sign off on them? You were against them?”
Phil replied: “No - I wasn’t the decision maker. Liz Truss actually subsequently in a BBC interview a few weeks ago did apologise.”
Philp went on to talk about the currency exchange rate, government bond yields and the situation in America before Ferrari interrupted him again: “Can I just say, I appreciate you were chief secretary to the Treasury - you were second in command - but do you not think you owe an apology to the British public?”
Philp replied: “Well, as I say, I wasn’t the decision maker. I didn’t take the decisions.”
Ferrari asked: “Were you against the decisions then?”
Philp told him: “So I think the strategy they had to try and drive growth was a sort of well-founded strategy.
“I had a view myself that it should have been a balanced package, looking at the spending side of the ledger, as well as the tax side and that there should have been a sort of fiscal framework sitting around now.”
Ferrari asked him if he was “overruled” but Philp carried on: “What the new chancellor and new prime minister are doing is exactly that.
“Their 17th of November statement...that’s why ultimately I wasn’t the decision maker - as you’d expect - those kinds of massive decisions about the economy...come from the very top.”
Ferrari said “let’s leave it” and added: “Unless you were not overruled. We’ll leave the interview there. It’s over to you...I’m grateful for your time.”