NADHIM Zahawi faced a difficult first media round as Chancellor on Wednesday morning as news of two more government resignations came in while he was live on air.
While speaking to the Today programme, the man replacing Rishi Sunak at the Treasury was asked for his take on the exodus of government figures – with Will Quince and Laura Trott’s announcements coming in as he spoke.
Zahawi said he was “sorry to see” the resignations of Trott and Quince.
Responding to Trott’s resignation, he told BBC programme: “I’m sorry to lose any Conservative and of course sorry to lose a talented member of Parliament like Laura Trott.
“What I would say to her is the way you deliver trust is by delivering outcomes for people.
“They want to see us focus on the economy and stewardship of the economy, rebuilding the economy, growing the economy, on national security abroad.
“We’ve got war raging on our continent and, of course, at home, 13,500 police officers are recruited and, of course, the backlog that Steve Barclay will deal with in the NHS.”
He added: “I’m sorry to see Will Quince go. He was my children and families minister and a great minister. All I would say to colleagues is people don’t vote for divided teams. We have to come together.”
The new Chancellor also took the opportunity to defend Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal while speaking to Good Morning Britain.
It was put to him by the presenters: “You’ve had a minister resign in the last few minutes because what he was told by No 10 about what the Prime Minister knew was not true. That’s the reason that we’re talking about it.”
Zahawi responded: “I don’t disagree with you … which is why I said we’ve made a mistake.
“It’s a fast-moving situation. We make decisions at warp speed. And when you make a mistake, it’s right to come out and say ‘I made a mistake’.
“And, of course, the Prime Minister [said] ‘with the benefit of hindsight, I shouldn’t have appointed Chris Pincher to the position of deputy chief’. I think, in my view, that is the right way to deal with this – when you know you’ve made a mistake, is to come out and own it.”
Zahawi was also forced to admit that taxes will go up, and warned that the next year will be “really hard” for the economy.
“We’ve just come out of the equivalent of a world war,” he told the BBC. “We have to rebuild the economy and return to growth – that is what your listeners will want me to focus on.
“It’s my first day in the job … and I need to be able to just make sure I go back, review everything; nothing is off the table.
“I’ll come back on your programme and happily talk about where I think we can do more on taxes.”
