RATTLED Dominic Raab clashed with Nick Robinson this morning after accusing the BBC presenter of constantly interrupting him.
The Deputy PM and Radio 4 veteran broadcaster bickered on the airwaves during a combative grilling on Covid and Afghanistan.
After a heated back-and-forth about whether ministers will launch Plan B irritated Mr Raab snapped that he wasn’t being allowed to finish his sentence.
He said: “Can I answer the question? You interrupt me every time I ask I try to just give you a full answer which accurately addresses…”
But withering Robinson cut in: “You are nine minutes into the interview Mr Raab, so let’s not complain about the time you’ve been given. You’ve had lots of time.”
Mr Raab shot back: “And Nick you’ve interrupted me every time.”
The presenter insisted: “No, I haven’t”, to which the Minister despaired: “You’re doing it again now”.
It was an uncomfortable round of breakfast interviews for the Justice Secretary – who had hoped to talk about prisons reform but was instead challenged on his stint as foreign secretary.
A damning report from a Foreign Office whistle-blower directly accuses Mr Raab of failings during the Kabul evacuation.
Defiant Mr Raab this morning rejected central accusations that he was slow to make decisions and prioritised Pen Farthing’s animals over people.
He said: “On the charge that it took several hours to make decisions, I mean, we’re not talking about days, it’s not being suggested weeks, but several hours to make sure that we had the facts.
“And that as between myself, the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary, decisions were made, naturally, that is, I would suggest, a reasonably swift turnaround.”
But Robinson scathed: “We’ve talked for seven minutes now and you haven’t identified a single lesson to learn or anything you think went wrong.”
Robinson held his hands up a few weeks ago for a fiery interview he did at Tory party conference with Boris Johnson.
During the exchanges the presenter bluntly told the PM to “stop talking”, to the shock of listeners and MPs.
A statement from the BBC in October said: “There was certainly no desire to appear rude and post broadcast, and on reflection, Nick Robinson himself would have preferred to have used different language.”
