Development minister Andrew Mitchell was left squirming after being confronted with what he used to say about Rishi Sunak’s cuts to the UK’s aid budget.
Under David Cameron and Theresa May, the UK spent 0.7% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on international development.
But that was cut to 0.5% by Rishi Sunak in 2021, when he was chancellor, in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
On Sky News this morning, Mitchell - who was a Tory backbencher at the time - was shown what he said when the cuts were announced.
Presenter Sophy Ridge said: “You said this: ‘No one should be in any doubt about the damage these huge humanitarian cuts have done to the world’s poorest and to the reputation and effectiveness of British leadership’.
“That’s what you said in October, 2021. What happened to that Andrew Mitchell?”
The minister replied: “That Andrew Mitchell is now doing his very best to ensure that we mitigate the huge humanitarian cuts in the way that I described.”
But Ridge hit back: “Some will say that you sold out on your principles to get a government job.”
Mitchell responded: “Let me explain why I don’t think that’s true. We’re using these multipliers to find extra money. One example would be when I was in the Horn of Africa, where we have just staved off a famine last year.
“We were able to do some co-financing with other countries which increased the amount of money that was brought to bear on that crisis, so I’m looking at ways of mitigating the humanitarian effects.”
But Ridge said: “I can’t help but think whether it’s ever crossed your mind that they’ve given you this job in government because you’ll be less trouble for them as a government minister than on the backbenches.
“If you were on the backbenches right now I kind of think you would be on the airwaves saying this is just why we need to restore the aid budget, this is why we need to help the poorest countries in the world.”
“I am obviously governed by collective responsibility, but collective responsibility is not retrospective,” Mitchell replied.
“I’m doing my very best to make the system work and if you’re a politician you always have to decide whether or not you are better off on the outside of the tent trying to do what you can by shouting from the sidelines, or whether it is better to get inside and try and improve the situation, and I am doing the latter.”
Mitchell also refused to confirm Sunak’s pledge that the aid budget would return to 0.7% of GDP in 2024/25.
He said: “It will go back up to 0.7% when the two fiscal tests that were set down by Rishi and confirmed by parliament are met.
“I can’t tell you precisely when that will be because it’s not clear how quickly the economy is going to recover. The economy has suffered considerably from Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine and also from the aftermath of Covid, so I can’t give you an answer to that.
“But what I can tell you is that my job is to try and make sure that we have multipliers which augment the money that we can use and we are doing that as fast as we possibly can.”