Dan Walker jokingly said he hopes Michael Gove “is ok” after the cabinet minister gave a bizarre interview to the BBC on Wednesday morning.
Mr Gove used two different accents and adopted a sarcastic tone as the BBC Breakfast presenter tackled him on the cost of living crisis.
“I’ve watched our interview back a few times now,” Mr Walker wrote in a tweet later in the day. “Still trying to work out what happened,” he added. “I hope Mr Gove is ok.”
Mr Gove cut a frustrated figure as he was forced to defend the government’s decision not to include any policies in the Queen’s Speech to help families with rising bills.
Boris Johnson’s legislative agenda, read out by Prince Charles in the House of Lords on Tuesday, included a pledge to “strengthen the economy”.
But there were no specific measures aimed at helping people with their food, fuel and energy bills, which are expected to rise again in October when the price cap lifts.
“We are constantly looking at ideas… in order to ensure we relieve pressure on people who are facing incredibly tough times,” Mr Gove said, when asked why ministers had not done more to help with the biggest squeeze on living standards since the post-war period.
“But that doesn’t amount to an emergency budget,” he added, putting extra emphasis and an accent on the words emergency budget.
He had been referring to speculation in the media that Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, could intervene with further help before he delivers his autumn budget.
Mr Sunak’s spring statement in March was widely criticised for not doing enough.
“It is an example of some commentators chasing their own tales,” Mr Gove said of the press reports.
Switching to what sounded like an American accent, Mr Gove then accused some pundits of “taking a statement that is commonsensical” and turning it into a “big news story”.
During the interview he also insisted that it was “no big deal” that the government had no plans for an emergency budget in the summer and told people to “calm down” in a Liverpudlian accent.
Asked later about Mr Gove’s use of regional accents, the prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters he was not aware of the levelling up secretary breaking into Scouse during cabinet meetings.
He added: “Michael Gove is an effective cabinet communicator who has a variety of means of getting the message across.”
The spokesperson said the PM has again urged ministers to be "as creative as possible" in devising measures to ease the cost of living squeeze.
Mr Gove was criticised for dismissing the prospects of an “emergency budget” with his American and scouse accents.
Lisa Nandy, his Labour shadow, tweeted: “What is he doing!? Making jokes and using silly voices while families across the country are struggling to survive.
"This isn’t a game (or an Oxford Union debate!). People are having to choose between heating and eating."
