Cabinet minister Therese Coffey has slapped down rumours she could resign as “ridiculous” in an extraordinary public spat with a Labour MP.
The work and pensions secretary hit back at Labour’s Neil Coyle after he suggested she had failed to answer questions about her department because she had “one foot out of the door”.
In a terse exchange in front of the the work and pensions select committee, Coyle told Coffey it was “really disappointing that you’ve turned up and been unable to answer so many questions”.
“There was a rumour the secretary of state is going to resign,” he continued.
“Is that the reason you can’t answer any questions today, because you’ve got one foot out the door?”
Coffey replied: “No, don’t be ridiculous Neil.”
She added: “If you want to bring up gossip, I could bring up other stuff that happened downstairs. I don’t think that’s appropriate for this select committee, thank you.”
Coffey’s “gossip” remark appeared to be a reference to a story in the Mail on Sunday that Coyle had been suspended from House of Commons bars after he allegedly swore at a Labour aide in a row about Brexit.
Coyle has so far not commented on the allegations.
His exchange with Coffey came about after she said she would come back to the committee regarding its question on “yellow card” sanctions for those on benefits, which gives claimants 14 days to challenge a decision to impose a sanction before it is put into effect.
Coffey said she either did not recall some details or was being asked about the work of other departments.