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Robert Jenrick was caught calling his interview with ITV’sGood Morning Britain a “waste of time” in an awkward hot mic moment while still on air.
The Reform UK Treasury spokesperson’s angry retort came after he had been questioned about the £5 million gift Nigel Farage failed to declare to parliament.
Farage received the lump sum from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne before he announced his plan to run to be an MP in May 2024.
The Reform leader claims it was not a political donation but a personal gift meant for his security which is why he did not need to add it to the MPs’ register of interest.
Farage called the scrutiny over his finances an “establishment stitch-up”, and quit as an MP to trigger a “people versus the establishment” by-election in his Clacton constituency.
This forced the parliamentary probe into his undeclared gift to be paused.
Jenrick, a former Tory frontbencher who defected to Reform earlier this year, has been furiously defending Farage across different broadcast channels for weeks now, insisting his party leader has done nothing wrong.
But evidently, the Good Morning Britain interview today was a step too far for him.
After the presenters thanked Jenrick for his appearance on the show and started to move onto their next segment, the Reform MP could be heard in the background saying: “Well that was a waste of time.”
After an awkward pause, co-host Ed Balls said: “Oh dear. I think it wasn’t a waste of time.
“I think Robert Jenrick gave us very clear answers.”
Jenrick replied to the clip online later and stood by his original assessment.
“We’ve got Ed’s useless mates back in government, people are struggling, and he can’t be bothered to ask how Reform would do things differently,” he said.
“For the record: Reform will cut your energy bills by £200 by cutting VAT ***** by removing green levies.”
New Labour prime minister Andy Burnham has this week announced plans to cut energy bills by £45 by removing VAT.
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