Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees Mogg has been "destroyed" in a scathing debate on GB news with political commentator Marina Purkiss. The clash saw the pair discuss whether Brexit had been a success and why inflation was so high in the UK, with Ms Purkiss asking "do you believe your lies?".
The heated discussion formed part of Mr Mogg's State of the Nation segment on GB News on Monday, April 25. The commentator was allegedly invited onto the show to discuss 'woke' policies but the debate soon moved onto the UK Government's political policies and their impacts.
Ms Purkiss accused the former minister and the Conservative government of trying to distract people from government failings by focusing on what they believed to be "woke" issues such as re-writing Roald Dahl novels and street names. You can get more politics news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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She said: "You're drawing attention to these things that actually don't impact people's lives and the reason you're doing that is because if you don't people might just focus on the real grievances in their life which are basically caused by your government.
"Just ask your viewers to think about what really impacts their life, is it Roald Dahl being rewritten? Is it the renaming of a street? Is it some woke policy? Or is it the concern that they are going to be waiting for an ambulance and dying? Is it the concern that their children are getting a poor education? Is it that we have got the highest energy bills on the planet?" She later added: "How are your anti-woke policies going to help restore the economy?
Mr Mogg said the commentator had been invited on for a discussion about free speech, which Ms Purkiss returned with: "Freedom of speech is not going to help you pay your bills? It's not going to put food on your table." She continued with the tirade "What you lot are doing in government is disgusting and you lie and you lie."
In the nine-minute clip, the pair discussed the impacts of Brexit. "Let me ask you a question. When you said to people that Brexit was going to bring cheaper food, clothes, footwear and drinks..." argued Ms Purkiss.
The MP interrupted: "It will! All of this is in progress!" The former minister explained: "Joining the CPTPP, the free trade deal with Australia, the free trade deal with New Zealand. All of these are bringing in lower tariffs on food coming into this country. All of this is already in the pipeline." Mr Rees-Mogg accused Ms Purkiss of "abuse" in her critique of Brexit, saying: "All you're doing is mere abuse, you're not making any arguments".
Ms Purkiss then followed up with: "Can I ask, what do you think is going to happen when all of those Brexit checks are going to come into play? Do you remember this time last year when you said those were an 'act of self-harm' and you delayed them? They're coming in this year. What's going to happen then?"
Mr Rees-Mogg responded: "There is no reason to bring those in. Those should be stopped again." Later in the debate Ms Purkiss mocked the MP for comparing the UK to Austria rather than countries more similar to the UK, saying: "Great comparison there, Jacob".
But the Brexiteer stood by the comments, saying: "It is a great comparison". The commentator hit back, saying: "Wonderful. Why on Earth would you compare us to Austria, who have one of the highest inflations in the world? Their GDP is in the billions. Ours is in the trillions."
He explained: "Our food inflation is lower than Germany's. So actually, I'm happy to take a variety of comparisons. Why Austria? Austria is renowned for its economic caution. There is a whole school of Austrian economists who are famous for economic caution."
Questioning why energy bills had skyrocketed in the UK compared to other countries, the former minister said these were as a result of the government's "green policies", only for Ms Purkiss to quickly respond: "Nothing to do with Conservative failures year after year?" A clip of the debate shared on social media has now been viewed over 1.6m times.
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