On Sunday morning the Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely, appeared on LBC Radio and was asked, in light of the Partygate affair, how he felt about Boris Johnson being Prime Minister.
In his reply (the conversation is detailed in full below), was that there were “worse things to lie about”, quickly following up with “if he [Johnson] did”.
Disquiet on Any Questions
As listeners to, and those in the audience of the Freshwater broadcast of BBC R4’s Any Questions on Friday evening will have heard, the audience was pretty vocal in their contempt for those seeking to defend the Boris Johnson’s actions.
Some people on Twitter said this was the most vocal they’d heard an Any Questions audience be for a long time.
The text below lays out the LBC conversation, but it’s worth watching the video snippet below to understand how Bob Seely delivered it.
Seely: Partygate is “basically about cakes and a few drinks”
After the Isle of Wight MP had said he would not want to see a ‘President Blair’ or ‘President Johnson’, the LBC presenter, Tom Swarbrick (once head of broadcasting for Theresa May’s PR team), asked,
“Are you happy to see a Prime Minister Boris Johnson?”
Seely replied,
“I do prefer talking about things that impact the world and Partygate is not the Iraq war, it’s basically about cakes and a few drinks, so I want to put that in perspective.
“Look I [sic] was pretty stupid what happened and he has continue apologising and making the mother of all apologies and frankly it’ll be quite nice to move on. It’s up to the British people as to whether they wish to do so. I think there are worse things to lie about [Seely holds his hands up] or, if he did – there are worse things to have to apologise for.”
Asked to clarify comment
Tom Swarbrick interrupted to seek clarification on what Bob had just said. He asked,
“Do you think he might have lied?”
Seely cupped his hand to his ear and replied,
“Well, look, I don’t know.”
Swarbrick asked again,
“You said ‘there are worse things to have lied about’.”
Seely: Please don’t try to catch me out
Bob Seely replied, clearly annoyed,
“Look if he has done, I’m sorry, I don’t know because I can’t see inside his mind, OK! And please don’t try to catch me out because I don’t think it’s going to make for a particularly good conversation.
“It’s up to the Privileges Committee to decide on that – if he did, if he didn’t, look, it’s not great is it.”
Seely: I get it in the ear from my constituents
The Isle of Wight MP went on to explain,
“People are clearly peeved at it – We had the BBC Any Questions down in Freshwater last Friday and clearly people are still unhappy about that and I get that, because I get it in the ear from my constituents.
“I would just say that many more of my constituents say that the stuff that’s actually really gripping us is the cost of living – the fact that we voted for a Conservative government, we’d like to see a Conservative government, erm and that yes, there are bad things in Ukraine and we need to support the Ukrainians.
“So is Partygate a problem? Yes. Is it the most serious thing facing Britain? I wish it was.”
Watch the full video (32 mins and 40 secs in for Seely’s appearance)
Bob’s support for Johnson
Bob Seely has consistently supported Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.
In April, after the PM was fined by Police for breaking lockdown rules, Bob declared his support for Boris Johnson.
Last month he said he would not be calling on Boris Johnson to resign after photos of the PM at Downing Street parties during Lockdown emerged.
Article edit
1.45pm 6th Jun 2022 – Last section about support added
Image: © LBC
