Cabinet minister Lucy Powell lost her rag on the BBC today after being challenged by her Tory opponent over Keir Starmer’s planned Chagos surrender.
Amid claims Sir Keir Starmer has now upped his offer to Mauritius to a mind boggling £18 billion, the Leader of the Commons was forced to defend the mad plan.
Lucy Powell dismissed the reported £18 billion price tag as “nonsense”, but refused to confirm the number when pressed by Conservative Richard Holden.
He provoked: “You don’t know do you!” To which she claimed they will “become clear” eventually.
Ms Powell claimed the deal is in Britain’s “national interest”, to which Mr Holden hit back: “It is absolutely not in our national interest!”
“It’s in China’s national interest!”
Ms Powell then accused Mr Holden of shouting over her, calling it “not a good look”, before later talking over her Tory opponent herself.
After he pointed out she couldn’t answer the most basic question about the cost of the deal, she began yelling: “Are you talking over me again? Are you talking over me again!”
“Are you? Can I speak? Stop speaking over me! It is rude!”
The Cabinet minister claimed the negotiations remain ongoing, and when they are agreed by Cabinet MPs and the public will learn the details of the PM’s surrender.
Mr Holden insisted that Labour’s deal is nothing like what the Tories began exploring under Liz Truss in 2022, negotiations later scrapped by Rishi Sunak’s government.
He explained: “What we were doing at the time was talking to [the Mauritians] about what might be the future.”
“It’s quite clear now what’s come out very quickly under this government is moving at immense pace – it happened within a few months of Labour coming to power – there’s a deal around the future, some money – Lucy won’t tell us how much it’s going to cost us.
“There are real issues now around China, not just the silk road but their massive land grab across the Indian Ocean and the far east.”
The former Tory chairman accused Ms Powell of “losing her rag” during the debate.
The top Labour politician’s behaviour sparked accusations from viewers it was an “awful performance”.
X user Bernie said: “Aggressive, rude, patronising and bitchy behaviour because she was asked for clarity on the money being ‘Spaffed’ to Mauritius.”
“What is this deadly security secret the British public are too stupid to know?”
Lee Harris said: “I have never seen anything like it. Labour’s diabolical performance is having an impact on them personally. They’re cracking under the pressure.”
Legendary political sketchwriter Quentin Letts quipped: “Prozac for Powell, please, pronto!”