bit longer, some of the so called one nation conservative group, also an optically happy with the prime minister, some of them former ministers themselves, and then some of the arch brexiteers, also not happy with the prime minister at the moment. the letters themselves are something shrouded in secrecy, but one thing that turned the mood a lot yesterday against the prime minister was the interview that he did with broadcasters where he claims that nobody had told him that that event on may the 20th 2020 in downing street was against the rules. this is something that caused quite a fierce backlash and has been on the front pages of every newspaper today after his former aide, dominic cummings, wrote on his blog that he didn t tell the prime minister that that event would be against the rules, and he also warned other officials at the time. today in defence of borisjohnson, the armed forces ministerjames heappey seem to claim that it wouldn t be the prime minister s fault if he didn t k
i personally think it is unedifying to have to reflect on the role of people who don t have this platform to respond, but my take, as someone who has worked in downing street, is that the prime minister doesn t really own his own diary, and it really is for his team to have his back, and i think, as he reflected in the comments the other week, in hindsight, he should have shut down that event straightaway. he apologised profusely for having not done so, but the fact that the event ever happened reflects, ifear, rather poorly on those who scheduled it and put it into the prime minister s diary. so the armed forces ministerjames heappey appearing to blame those who put it in the prime minister s diary. i m not sure from speaking to mps this morning that defence is going to go down well with some of those who actively want the prime minister take responsibility for what has happened, and wanting to show a bit more responsibility in
the armed forces ministerjames heappey appeared to concede that raising national insurance from april to pay for the covid backlog in social care, was unpopular, describing opposition among the audience in morecambe as absolute. everybody in the room is against it. everybody in the room is. is that fair? are you all against it? yeah. audience applauds. mr heappey also said that the government was in listening mode. you ll have noticed that the top of the government is in listening mode at the moment. and, erm. but the cabinet took the decision, and i think that it s important to recognise that actually as a tax, it will i think sort of 50% of the revenues raised by the top 14% of taxpayers, and there s six million people that pay nothing at all, so, erm, you know, it isn t the, eh, the blunt instrument that some people have described it as. there are calls from some conservative backbenchers for the rise to be delayed for a year. mel stride, who chairs the treasury select committee,
has admitted that the government will need to do a lot more to help people struggling financially. he said the government is in listening mode . helen catt reports. welcome to question time. speaking on the bbc s question time programme, the armed forces ministerjames heappey appeared to concede that raising national insurance from april to pay for the covid backlog in social care was unpopular, describing opposition among the audience in morecambe as absolute. everybody in the room is against it. everybody in the room is feeling the squeeze. is that fair? are you all against it? yeah. audience applauds. mr heappey also said that the government was in listening mode. you ll have noticed that the top of the government is in listening mode at the moment. and, erm. but the cabinet took the decision, and i think that it s important to recognise that actually as a tax, it will i think sort of 50% of the revenue s raised by the top 14% of taxpayers, and there s six million people that p
everybody in the room is against it. everybody in the room is feeling the squeeze. is that fair? are you all against it? yeah. audience applauds. mr heappey also said that the government was in listening mode. you ll have noticed that the top of the government is in listening mode at the moment. and, erm. but the cabinet took the decision, and i think that it s important to recognise that actually as a tax, it will i think sort of 50% of the revenue s raised by the top 14% of taxpayers, and there s six million people that pay nothing at all. so, arm, you know, it isn t the, eh, the blunt instrument that some people have described it as. there are calls from some conservative backbenchers for the rise to be delayed for a year. mel stride, who chairs the treasury select committee, told newsnight that he believed there was wiggle room in the public finances to allow it. the economy is doing quite a lot better than the 0br forecast at the time of the last budget, so we ve got that additi