Victoria Derbyshire immediately shut down Dominic Raab after his 'partisan' accusation

Dominic Raab called the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire "partisan" and she wasn't having any of it.

Speaking ahead of the vote of no confidence which Johnson (narrowly) won on Monday night, Raab said the public were interested in other issues rather than political infighting and rejected the idea that some might not "trust" Johnson.

He got the "big calls right", he said, before Derbyshire pointed to calls he arguably didn't get right, not least test and trace, writing off fraud from the furlough scheme and bringing Covid patients into care homes.

"I think it's easier to criticise from the luxury of being an armchair commentator or media commentator," Raab sniped back.

Derbyshire replied she was merely pointing out that the government's record is mixed and if Raab was "being honest" he would admit that.

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Raab said: "Well, Victoria. You’re [being] your usual partisan self about all of this, and that’s fine. But what I would say and the message and the feedback I get is that people recognise that we went through a pandemic the likes of which we’d never seen before.”

After Raab defended the government’s actions, Victoria then hit back at his accusation of being “partisan”, adding: “Forgive me for pushing back on you, Mr Raab, but just because I ask questions you don’t like, it doesn’t mean I’m partisan.”

Fair point.

Johnson went on to win the vote of no confidence by 211 to 148 meaning he doesn't exactly enjoy the ringing endorsement of his party, even if Raab likes him.

What will happen next to him and his political career is a matter for time to decide.

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