Furious caller brutally corrects Damian Green over Boris Johnson's "lies"

18 November 2019, 20:56

This furious caller mercilessly proves Conservative's Damian Green wrong on Boris Johnson's "lies" about facts and figures.

Mark started by mentioning the Conservative pledge in 2015 to build 200,000 starter homes and "the ONS has just reported you've built 200,000 starter homes - you've built exactly none so I think we can take that any promise you make, you tend to break."

In a document put forward by Sajid Javid, said the caller, "you claim that the cost of Labour will be £1.2 trillion - that has been totally debunked by myself by reading 35 pages; by people like Full Facts who pointed out that you've double counted the cost of nationalisation."

He also said they used figures which include costings that Labour haven't committed themselves to and they've overpriced the 2007 Labour manifesto by £300 billion. Mark asked if Damian Green would like to disassociate himself from these lies.

He then cited Boris Johnson's claims today that Labour would bring corporate tax to the highest in Europe which is "total nonsense."

Eddie pushed the Conservative candidate to answer whether Boris Johnson's claims were nonsense.

"I disagree flatly with a lot of what Mark has said," said Damian Green, "this idea that [the document] somehow underestimated the cost of nationalisation - actually it's almost the other way around." He also said that after Labour claimed plans to nationalise part of BT, the telecomms company said it would be at least double Labour's estimations.

Mark retorted: "I don't like being told my facts are wrong because I work with facts, that's why I'm a floating voter." He told Green where the BT cost estimations came from and said the Conservatives "double counted it in that document."

"Don't tell me I have my numbers wrong," he said, "it's a total lie and it seems to me that you're all following this new leader of yours who tends to say a lie every day."

Damian Green said Mark didn't sound like a floating voter which caused objection from both the caller and Eddie.

Eddie questioned Green's claims of CBI's independence after he insisted these numbers were legitimate.

He continued that Labour's claims are conversely illegitimate: "The number of times I've heard Labour politicians sententiously say we are a democratic party that listens to our conference-"

Mark said he wasn't going to accept this and gave an example of challenging Jo Swinson, proving he was a floating voter.

"Your Prime Minister said he's going to build 40 new hospitals, the facts: we know it actually means six. Your Prime Minister said that he's going to spend £34 billion on the NHS, we know that in real terms that is £20 billion. He said he was going to spend £14 billion on education, we know for a fact that's £4 million.

"The only people the country are seeing who are not telling the truth, led by a leader who consistently won't tell us about what's in the report - there must be at least five investigations around the Prime Minister at the moment! He's still sitting there and the Conservatives are letting him and I'd be saying this if you a Liberal, a Labour or any other party."

Damian Green said that the first six of the hospitals "will be built between 2020 and 2025 and that we're already committing the seed money to prepare to build the other 34 between 2025 and 2030."

"Well then don't say 40 new hospitals when we're coming up to an election," admonished Eddie.

Green said, "There will be 40 new hospitals in the next decade," to which Eddie pointed out there could be 40 new hospitals in the next century.

"That was made perfectly clear when that announcement was made," said Green, "in the end the £33.9 billion for the NHS is what will be being spent."