Jonathan Gullis’s attempt to defend the Conservatives’ abysmal night at the local elections was drowned out on live TV by cheers for the opposition.
The Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent was speaking to a Sky News journalist early on Friday morning, when his party had already lost 83 seats and a majority in his own constituency’s council.
But, even as more losses were being announced all around, Gullis was still trying desperately to defend the Conservatives’ performance – albeit while looking a little blue.
Asked if voters were rejecting PM Rishi Sunak, Gullis said: “I simply don’t buy that.”
He was immediately cut off by a wave of applause and cheers as other results were announced in the background.
The Tory MP ignored it, and continued: “All the pollsters were saying that the Conservatives were expecting quite big losses across the country, we know that ultimately obviously it’s been challenging because we’re 15, 16 points behind in national polls.
“We’ve clawed that back, quite a lot, thanks to Rishi Sunak. Still Rishi Sunak delivering on those pledges.
“We’ve seen the Illegal Migration Bill ...”
The reporter pushed: “He hasn’t delivered on that though, has he?”
Gullis said: “The Illegal Migration Bill is a humungous step forward which the Labour Party are completely opposed to.”
The journalist noted that there were still no flights to Rwanda happening, to which Gullis blamed “the Labour Party and its leftie lawyer mates” who were “looking to stop us at every opportunity”.
He added: “Sadly, when we’ve got Sir Keir Starmer who is happy to keep foreign national offenders on the ground here, and then go on to commit other crimes...”
Gullis was drowned out again by a second wave of cheers and applauding. He kept trying to talk over them but his words were completely lost in the broadcast.
Once the noise died down, the journalist resumed the interview, adding: “It looks like here the voters are responding to what Keir Starmer is saying.”