Tory aide stops interview as chairman refuses to answer selection questions
The Conservative Party chairman has repeatedly refused to answer questions about his selection as a Parliamentary candidate, leading a Tory aide to step in and threaten to cut the interview.
Richard Holden was asked at least four times whether his selection to a safe seat hundreds of miles from his previous constituency amounted to a "stitch-up", but each time refused to answer.
The senior Conservative instead answered the question each time by talking about schools policy made by Labour's Emily Thornberry, before interviewer Jon Craig said: “I’m going to stop you now, this is ridiculous.”
Eventually an off-camera aide stood in, telling the Sky News journalist his line of questioning "wasn't agreed" beforehand.
The interview was part of a pool arrangement, where one news broadcaster records it and shares it with the others.
“These broadcasters agreed that the questions would be specifically,” the aide says before Mr Craig retorts: “No, nobody agreed. I’ve got a list here of questions from other broadcasters. Nobody’s agreed, absolutely not.”
The aide then threatens: “If that’s the way this is going to go, then we will just leave, because that’s not what we agreed to come here today to discuss.”
Mr Holden, until recently the MP for North West Durham, was the sole candidate presented on what was expected to be a shortlist of three names for the Basildon and Billericay seat, angering some local members.
It's regarded as a safe Conservative seat, with John Baron having won a majority of 20,412 over his nearest Labour opponent in 2019.
At one point it was put to Mr Holden that just four months ago he'd told ITV News he was "bloody loyal to the North East".
Asked if it was an appalling stitch-up, Mr Holden said: “This interview is about Emily Thornberry’s comments today in which she admitted that it’s going to be our children across the country who pay the price for Labour’s decision to try and tax private schools if they get into office.”
The Tory party chairman said he had “already answered these questions” in a previous interview with Channel 4.
Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “Ric Holden is running the Tory election campaign.
“If chicken-run Ric can’t stand the heat, he should get out of the kitchen.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Labour’s Emily Thornberry has now admitted that it’s children who would pay the price of Labour’s decision to tax private schools.
"Not only would families right across the country have to pay over £2,000 of extra taxes under the Labour Party, but it’s now clear that Britain’s children would also pay a price with larger class sizes.
"That would be a horrendous price to pay simply to deliver on Labour’s ideological obsession with raising taxes on hard-working families.”
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