“Why do you think one of your five MPs is saying he’s not sure if Nigel Farage has what it takes to be prime minister?”
Fiona Bruce put Richard Tice on the spot during yesterday’s BBC Question Time, challenging him over damning remarks made by a fellow Reform MP about Nigel Farage.
Bruce outlined that a fellow Reform MP, Rupert Lowe, had said he’s not sure if Nigel Farage has what it takes to be prime minister and accused him of being “messianic”.
He also said that the party needs to start acting like a party of leadership rather than just a protest movement.
Tice stuck to Reform UK’s favourite line: “At the end of the day, Reform is growing in the polls, we’re doing extremely well.”
He also said “Nigel Farage will be a fantastic prime minister of this country to create growth,” prompting boos from the audience.
Unconvinced by Tice’s response, Bruce pushed further: “Why do you think one of your five MPs is saying he’s not sure if Nigel Farage has what it takes to be prime minister?”
Once again, the Boston and Skegness MP repeated that Reform is leading in the polls.
Bruce wasn’t having any of it: “That’s not remotely answering the question”.
She added that “there’s not not loads of you, there’s only five of you,” before going on to say “So 20% of your MPs is not sure if Nigel Farage has what it takes to be prime minister, what is your response to that?”.
“My response is that I’ve been in Scotland all day, ask Rupert,” Tice responded.
He again said he thinks Farage is “doing a great job” and that Reform is growing in the polls “because people trust us with the right policies to create growth”.
Tice tried to continue talking about how the country cannot spend its way out of debt, but Bruce chipped in again “there seems to be considerable division within your ranks”.
She pressed again: “Do you think Rupert Lowe shouldn’t be an MP then? He doesn’t think Nigel Farage has got what it takes”.
Tice said Lowe “is doing a good job, we’re working hard, we’ve got a small number of MPs”.
Asked if he was happy with Lowe’s comments, Tice said he wouldn’t make those comments but that there’s “no harm in a bit of challenge”.
Farage has himself responded to the comments saying: “Perhaps he [Lowe] wants to be prime minister”.
GB News has branded the exchange between Bruce and Tice as an example of BBC Question Time “bias,” while the Daily Mail has argued that viewers turned off the program in frustration over Bruce simply doing her job.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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