Just when Rishi Sunak thought things could not get any worse for him, the weekly publication dubbed “the Tory bible” has joined his army of critics.
Analysis by The Spectator has torn apart the prime minister’s controversial claim that an incoming Labour government would need to raise taxes by £2,000 per household to pay for its spending plans.
Fraser Nelson, the magazine’s editor, said they were “nonsense figures with fake attribution” - and said the Conservatives would need to put taxes up by £3,000 using the same methodology.
Cabinet minister Mel Stride struggled to answer this morning when presented with The Spectator’s figures on Sky News.
Presenter Kay Burley told him: “I was surprised yesterday to see the editor of The Spectator say ‘there are serious issues at stake in this general election, and the Tories have just released nonsense figures with fake attribution and given it to newspapers who took it on trust. I’m really not sure that this will help their chances very much’.
“You’re in a lot of trouble when your bible turns against you.”
Dodging the question, Stride said: “What matters in this election is who should get the keys to No.10.
“Is it the party that has taken us through all those extreme difficulties, that has now got inflation down, has got real wages growing in each of the last 10 months, is putting up the national living wage to look after those at the lower end of the earnings distribution and so on.
“Or is it a party that has no plan and is basically going to take us back to square one?”
But Burley hit back: “Even The Spectator is saying ‘nonsense figures with fake attribution’.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer has accused Sunak of “lying” over his comments about Labour’s tax plans, while the Treasury’s top civil servant has also dismissed Tory claims his department came up with the £2,000 figure.