Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has hit back at a suggestion from the Prime Minister that his disastrous mini-budget is to blame for the party’s position in the opinion polls.
He told GB News: “I feel partially responsible, but I didn't feel responsible for leaving D-Day early, I don't feel responsible for the Reform party, which was on 4 per cent in October 2022, being on nearly 20% now.
“I don't feel responsible for the election betting scandal. Nor do I feel responsible for the fact that this election has happened way before anyone was expecting.
“Even Philip Hammond, who was a great supporter of Rishi Sunak, was in the media I read saying, ‘why are we doing an election?’”
Asked why Sunak went for an early General Election, he said: “I think it was a personal decision. My understanding was that he…went to the king to get the dissolution of the Parliament before engaging with the Cabinet. That's what I've read….that's quite unusual
“Because I remember I was in cabinet in 2019 and Boris Johnson discussed the December election with the Cabinet and it was only after that discussion - and actually in the meeting, I was against the December election.
“I thought it was a very unusual and difficult time to have an election. But he took all the advice and then he went for the election and it was a success.
“I think this time, clearly very few people knew and that's why it was 5/1, that's why they could make money on the on the betting because nobody thought that, it was it was such a long shot.
“Obviously, these are allegations and we have to see what happened but it was very unexpected and the problem with unexpected elections is that they can surprise your party more than the others.”
He added: “It's very difficult for him, for any Prime Minister. The only thing I can remember which is similar was 1997, when you kind of knew that Labour would get in.
“John Major and the Cabinet, they looked pretty tired and they were going out on campaign and everyone knew what the result would be. It feels a bit like that this year.
“There could still be surprises, we don't know. But at the moment, when you've got Cabinet ministers warning about Labour's super-majority…you can see where the thing’s going.”
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