Business secretary was sent out to defend PM’s attempt to get Owen Paterson off the hook – but then Boris changed his mind
It was a shit job, but someone had to do it. And it was just Kwasi Kwarteng’s bad luck that he drew the short straw of having to defend the government’s latest sleaze-bath on the morning media round. After all, it was a foregone conclusion that any hopes the business secretary might have had of getting a word in edgeways about climate change would be blown out of the water by Boris Johnson’s extraordinary decision to enforce a three-line whip on Conservative MPs to get Owen Paterson off the hook.
Some ministers take these punishment beatings in good grace. As part of the job, even. Not Kwarteng. He was sullen, grumpy and dismissive right from the start of his interview with Nick Robinson on Radio 4’s Today programme, claiming the government had been thinking of changing the rules on appeal for the past 11 and a half years. So why had they waited until the vote on Paterson’s suspension to debate it in the Commons? Kwasi tried to ignore the question.
