Ed Vaizey's Hilarious Description Of Dominic Cummings In Key Tory Meeting
30 October 2019, 08:00
Ed Vaizey has had the Conservative whip reinstated ahead of the upcoming General Election - and gave a hilarious description of the meeting where it happened.
The Tory MP lost the whip after voting against Boris Johnson to rule out a no-deal Brexit - but was one of 10 MPs welcomed back to the fold yesterday.
Speaking to Iain Dale, he explained how he got back into the party - and gave a comical description of the Prime Minister's key advisor Dominic Cummings during the key meeting.
He told LBC: "We went into his office in the House of Commons, which is just behind the Chamber, and we sat around.
"We had a skulking Dominic Cummings in climbing boots, jeans and a gilet. He was alternating between looking at his notebook and playing on his iPad.
"We had the Chief Whip next to the Prime Minister and various other aides coming in and out of the room.
"He said that it's been a painful experience, he wants a united party, he doesn't want division, he doesn't agree with the way we voted on the Benn Act. He thinks that it restricted his room for manoeuvre and he's quite sore about that, but given what has happened since, he wanted to offer us the whip back although he respected our right potentially to say no."
21 MPs had the whip withdrawn, but only 10 had it reinstated. Mr Vaizey suggested a few more should be welcomed back, but admitted it may be too difficult for some.
He explained: "Ken Clarke is standing down, so I think it would be the decent thing to do. I feel very strongly for Antoinette Sandbach, who is a relatively new MP and has had a horrible time both with her local constituency and the way she has been treated online.
"I think David Gauke and Philip Hammond are tough cookies. Hammond in particular has gone toe-to-toe with the Prime Minister, so that's going to be a tricky one."
Watch his full, entertaining interview at the top of the page.
