THE chairman of the Conservative Party has been caught with notes scribbled on his hand during an interview on the BBC.
Appearing on the BBC's Sundays with Laura Kuenssberg, the MP for Chelsea and Fulham, Greg Hands, could be seen with blue ink scrawled on his palm while he attempted to defend the UK Government’s economic record.
Following the broadcast, the Labour Party released the image of Hands’s palm on social media along with the message: “Hands hands hands notes to Labour research team”.
During a separate interview on Sky News, the chairman cited forecasts by elections experts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, which show the Tories suffering a loss of around 1000 seats while Labour are set to gain approximately 700.
Local elections are due to be held in parts of England on May 4 with more than 8000 seats up for grabs across the country.
He said: “The independent expectations are the Conservatives will lose more than 1000 seats and that Labour need to make big gains. That is what the expectation is out there.
“But I’ve been up and down the country and the Conservatives are fighting really hard.”
When pressed by presenter Trevor Phillips on whether he would be willing to defend such a bad result following the election or if Rishi Sunak would move him to a different role, Hands said he would wait and see.
He then claimed Conservative councils “deliver better” and cost people less tax.
“They cost you less tax, £80 less tax on council tax,” he said. “Delivering better services, better action on potholes, lower crime in Conservative areas.
“These are all tangible deliveries by Conservative councillors.”
Asked whether he would welcome “a period of silence” from former prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson – who have both been giving speeches and interviews across the globe – Hands appeared to dodge the question. “Well, in the Conservative Party the most important thing is getting on with the job of governance rather than these kind of Westminster political machinations,” he said.
“That is what Rishi Sunak is focused on.”
Earlier in the interview Hands also stated he felt Suella Braverman was doing a “brilliant job” despite figures showing that 83% of the public believe that government is handling immigration badly.
