Kay Burley went straight for the jugular this morning when she asked defence secretary Grant Shapps how it felt for his political dreams to be over.
The Conservative party’s terrible performance in the opinion polls, and the prime minister’s gaffe-filled campaign, means they are widely expected to take a beating at the ballot box next month.
The Sky News presenter began her interview with Shapps by saying: “Generally, I enjoy jousting with you this time in the morning, but I feel like I have to be gentle with you, given this latest poll.
“You’re only going to win 72 seats.”
She was referring to a new Survation mega-poll for Best for Britain, which was published in the The Sunday Times.
The MRP poll surveyed 22,000 adults between May 31 and June 13, and showed the vote share could almost halve for the Tories, taking it from 44% in 2019 to just 24% in the upcoming election.
But Shapps replied: “No one has voted yet. Opinion polls are a snapshot of that moment in time, and as we discussed in previous years, they’re not always right, either.”
He added that his party was “fighting for every single vote”.
Burley replied: “Looks like you’re going to lose your seat, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t think anybody’s voted in my seat, as I mentioned before,” Shapps said.
He claimed that in 2015 general election, at the 2016 EU referendum and at the 2017 general election, the polls were wrong.
Still, Burley continued: “At one stage, you wanted to be prime minister. How does it feel when your political dreams are over?”
He smiled and said: “Let’s wait and see what happens in this election.”
When he started to criticise Labour and warned they would get a so-called “supermajority” in the Commons, Burley cut in: “So I’m a bit confused – you are accepting the polls or you’re not?”
He said he was a “realist”, accepts what the polls say each day but the Conservatives are still “fighting”.
Burley pointed out Labour are on track for a 262-seat majority according to Survation, adding: “Who is going to be left?”
He avoided answering, but eventually said most polls strip out the undecided voters.
The Sky News presenter did not relent, and said: “It was the D-Day gaffe that did it, wasn’t it, really?”
PM Rishi Sunak chose to leave the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy early to speak to a TV journalist.
But Shapps said Sunak is very supportive of veterans.
Burley moved on to deliver her final blow: “In all seriousness, what will you do after the election? You have got a pilot’s licence haven’t you?”
He laughed and said it was not a commercial licence and that his focus is still on winning.
The Sky News presenter joked: “Just trying to help!”
A YouGov survey for Sky News earlier this month predicted the defence secretary could be voted out of parliament along with many of his Conservative colleagues.