Sophy Ridge on Sunday Interview with Karen Bradley, Culture Secretary, 11.06.17

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SOPHY RIDGE ON SUNDAY, SKY NEWS

SOPHY RIDGE: Joining us now in the studio is the Culture Secretary, Karen Bradley. I say you’re the Culture Secretary, are you the Culture Secretary because this reshuffle is still going on and it doesn’t really seem much is happening?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well as a Minister you stay in your role until you’re replaced, so at the moment I’m Culture Secretary.

SR: You’re waiting for the call to confirm if that’s the case?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well clearly the Prime Minister is busy sorting out arrangements, speaking to colleagues who have left their seats but calls will come I’m sure.

SR: Do you think this is partly because her plan, of the reshuffle she wanted to do, is now just completely torn up for scrap because she doesn’t have the authority to carry it out?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well I don't think that’s the case. Looking back on Thursday it is clearly a disappointing result and it’s not the result that we would have wanted but we are where we are …

SR: A bit of an understatement there.

KAREN BRADLEY: Well we are where we are and we need to make sure that we can form that government in the national interest, get on with those Brexit negotiations and deliver for that country that works for everyone that the Prime Minister set out in her speech in Downing Street last year.

SR: Now there’s been some confusion over the last 24 hours about what exactly has been arranged with DUP because there was the statement sent out saying that there was an arrangement in place and the DUP said that had been sent out in error. This government seems to have gone from strong and stable to complete farce, what’s happening?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well the conservations are ongoing, we are looking to get a confidence and supply arrangement with them which would mean that the DUP would vote with us on those matters like the Queen’s Speech and the Budget and then on an issue by issue basis and to be …

SR: So is there a deal?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well conversations are ongoing but the DUP and others voted together on many occasions in the past. We’re two separate parties with different manifestos but we do have common cause in some areas.

SR: So what I’m trying to work out then is why that statement was put out saying there was a deal. Did someone press the wrong button, was there a crackly phone line to Northern Ireland, how was that mistake made?

KAREN BRADLEY: Look, I don’t want to get into the process points, the point is that the conversations and ongoing are ongoing.

SR: But it’s a pretty major mistake.

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, the important point is that we have those discussions, that we have those negotiations and that we do come up with a confidence and supply arrangement so that we can govern in the national interest.

SR: So you want to be the next government of the country or you are the government of the country and you can’t even put the right press release out.

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, that’s a process point and I don’t want to get into the detail of it.

SR: Okay, so what price then a deal with the DUP? What’s the strings?

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, we’re two separate parties, we have separate manifestos, the DUP is a mainstream party in Northern Ireland, they have been part of the Northern Ireland Assembly running the Northern Ireland Assembly together with Sinn Fein and we vote together on a number of points but we are two separate parties and we’ll continue to be so.

SR: The reason I ask about the strings is because one of their MPs said yesterday that there will be a price to pay and their support won’t come without strings, so what are those strings?

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, they are part of the discussions and negotiations as to how we get that confidence and supply arrangement.

SR: How do you feel about going into agreement with a party which is anti-abortion, how does that make you feel as a woman, as a politician?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well many of the issues that have been raised about the DUP are matters of conscience which from the Conservative party have always been free vote issues but the government is clear, I am clear, I’m very proud that I voted for example for same-sex marriage as did the Prime Minister, nothing changes with regards to those matters, they are free vote issues.

SR: It must make you feel a bit queasy though.

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say we will do negotiations to achieve a confidence and supply arrangement, confidence and supply meaning they will vote with us on the Queen’s Speech and the Budget.

SR: I know what confidence and supply means, I am just trying to get a bit of a sense of what you feel about it. Are you comfortable with it?

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, I didn’t want the result that we saw on Thursday but we have to deal with the situation as we see it and the only party who can form a government according to the electoral maths are the Conservative party. Even if Jeremy Corbyn wants to be Prime Minister he doesn’t have enough MPs to the left of centre to even outvote the Conservatives so we have to face the reality of where we are and in the national interest we need to form a government because we are the only party that can actually form that government.

SR: You didn’t really answer my question. I am really interested how do you feel, you have seen the statements that some of their MPs have said about gay marriage that you have said you were very proud to have supported, how does it make you feel?

KAREN BRADLEY: On those free vote issues there are many different views across the House of Commons, across different political parties, I have different views on some of those matters than some MPs in my own party but nothing changes in terms of …

SR: But one of their MPs says that gay people are repellent.

KAREN BRADLEY: Well I simply do not accept that that is the case, I am very supportive of same-sex marriage and will continue to do so but we are talking about the issues that we can work with the DUP on and we have voted together on a number of occasions in the past.

SR: The reason I am asking these questions, and I understand that you are saying that you want to have an agreement with the DUP on the big ticket items, on the big things but you are going to rely on them for all votes because your majority is so small, this is not just on the budget, not just on Brexit, you are relying on them for all issues including social issues.

KAREN BRADLEY: But the social issues, as I say, have always been free vote matters and we look at the House of Commons as a whole on that and I think the House of Commons is in a different place than some of the DUP MPs but they are free vote matters, they are matters of conscience.

SR: Now on the steps of Downing Street on the wake of this election I remember Theresa May standing there saying Jeremy Corbyn would bring a weak and unstable coalition of chaos and coalition of chaos was ringing in our ears throughout the election campaign, she said it again and again and yet here you are preparing to go into an agreement with the DUP to get your numbers. If you weren’t in government now you could step back and just have a laugh at it all really, it sounds very hypocritical.

KAREN BRADLEY: But we’ve got to face the reality of the situation we’re in today. The election maths are such that with 318 MPs we cannot form a majority government but Jeremy Corbyn cannot either, the only party that can actually form a government is the Conservative party and we have to think about what is best for the country and the best thing for the country is to form that government, get on with the Brexit negotiations starting next week, make sure we are governing in the national interest and do what we need to do and want to do to bring the country together.

SR: You have a slogan that was ringing in our ears which was strong and stable and yet what you’ve had is one Conservative Prime Minister who has called an EU referendum and then promptly lost it and another Conservative Prime Minister who has called an election and lost her majority, I mean that is the opposite of strong and stable.

KAREN BRADLEY: Right at the beginning of the election campaign I remember sitting talking to journalists who told me this was a shoe-in and the polls were great and I kept saying no, calling a general election is a gamble, it is a risk. The Prime Minister has done it in the national interest because we need to have five years to deliver Brexit and beyond and that’s what the Prime Minister did but we all knew it was a gamble, we all knew it was a risk and so it came to pass.

SR: And the gamble hasn’t paid off.

KAREN BRADLEY: It’s not the result we would have wanted, of course it’s not and it is incredibly disappointing when I see colleagues, friends, people who have been great local constituency MPs losing their seat through no fault of their own, because of an upsurge in voting for Labour that nobody predicted.

SR: So why did that happen? Was it because your campaign was so bad, is that why it happened?

KAREN BRADLEY: I don’t want to go through what happened on the campaign and today is not the day for post mortems, today is the day to get the government sorted in the national interest. We received more than two million votes more than we got in 2015, our vote share was up, we had the highest share of the vote in the Conservative party since 1983.

SR: Yes, but you lost seats, you can’t really paint this as a great victory.

KAREN BRADLEY: And we do need to reflect on that and we do need to think very carefully about why it is that we lost in places like Canterbury that we’ve never, ever lost but as I say, this is not the day for the post mortem, today is the day …

SR: So why did you lose in Canterbury?

KAREN BRADLEY: Today is the day to get the government sorted, to make sure that we have a government, that we have Cabinet tomorrow and that we can get on and govern in the national interest because there is uncertainty around Brexit and we need to make sure that we get that right because if we don’t get Brexit right we won’t have that strong economy to pay for those public services that people quite clearly voted to say that they wanted to see changed.

SR: So as you raised it, why did you lose in Canterbury?

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, we need to go back and look at that at another time, today is not the day to be looking at that but we do need to think carefully about how it is we increased our number of votes, we had more than two million votes more than we got in 2015, we had more nearly a million more votes than Labour had but the way that the electoral maths works, the way that the calculus works in different seats saw us going backwards in terms of number of seats and that’s something we need to look at carefully.

SR: Do you think Theresa May will fight the next election for the Conservative party?

KAREN BRADLEY: I think what we need to do today is get the government sorted, in five years’ time we will see where we are but today is the day to make sure we have Theresa May there and I am backing Theresa May because she is the leader of the party, she was elected by an overwhelming majority of Conservative MPs last year and she is the only person who can take us through those Brexit negotiations.

SR: You see Theresa May has lost her majority, she has lost her two closest advisors, the sharks are already circling for her, do you really think she can survive?

KAREN BRADLEY: This is not the time for sharks to be circling, this is the time for us to come together as a party. Yes, we are wounded, yes we are sore, yes we are very hurt by seeing good loyal friends and colleagues lose their seats but we need to come together because if we don’t come together the alternative is Jeremy Corbyn and I don't think anybody would thank us if that’s what we delivered for the country.

SR: There’s been a lot of talk in the press this morning about Boris Johnson, how do you feel about Boris Johnson as a future leader?

KAREN BRADLEY: Boris has been clear that he is not seeking a leadership election, he’s Tweeted that and he’s had statements put out and I agree with Boris, today is the day to come together, today is the day to back Theresa May to make sure that we give her the government that she needs so that she can go into those Brexit negotiations so we can deliver a good result for Britain which means we will then have a strong economy to pay for those public services.

SR: Do you think he would make a good leader though?

KAREN BRADLEY: As I say, today I am interested in Theresa May being the leader of the party and I’m not interested in anything else.

SR: There has been lots of criticism you see of Theresa May in the campaign and her advisors focusing just on her, not allowing the other people within the Conservative party to share the limelight, do you think that was a mistake? Do you think some of the big beasts on the Conservative benches like Boris Johnson for example should be playing more of a prominent role?

KAREN BRADLEY: Well again, you are asking me to comment on what happened during the election campaign and …

SR: Well that’s fair enough isn’t it, to be honest? You lost your majority, it’s a couple of days afterwards, it’s fair to talk about the lessons.

KAREN BRADLEY: I think we need to look back in time to come and have a look at the overall campaign and what happened and today is not the day to do that but you have seen already changes in Downing Street, you have seen Gavin Barwell appointed as Chief of Staff. I worked with Gavin in the Whips office, he is a very popular, he was a very popular MP, very popular colleague and he will bring a different style to Downing Street.

SR: And you think that will be a good thing then, you think that’s a step in the right direction?

KAREN BRADLEY: I think it’s part of showing and demonstrating that things are going to be different and I think that’s the right thing for the Prime Minister to have done and Gavin Barwell will be a very successful chief of staff I’m sure. But today is the day to look to the future and not the past.

SR: I’m interested as well in your thoughts on what’s happening with Theresa May now. You are someone who worked very closely with her in the Home Office, you know her well. Sometimes when you looked at her on television over the last few days she’s looked like a broken woman, how do you think she is coping now?

KAREN BRADLEY: I think she will find it very hard because we all find it very hard. I am very, very upset by some of the colleagues, well all of the colleagues I’ve lost but some very close friends who won’t be sitting on the green benches with me anymore. This is a very hard thing to take and she was clear when made the decision to call the general election, she said it had been the loneliest decision she’d ever taken.

SR: Do you think she feels responsible for it?

KAREN BRADLEY: I think that she will find it very deeply effecting that she has seen colleagues lose their seats and that we weren’t able to deliver that overall majority that we wanted to do and I am sure she will take much of that to heart but she is a very strong woman, she is very resilient and she will know that she has to put the country before any personal feelings and that the country needs to have a government led by the Conservatives, the country has made that clear through the fact that we received a higher share of the vote than we have received since 1983 and she will be doing everything she can to deliver that in the national interest.

SR: Okay, Karen Bradley, thank you very much for your time.