Hunt quip fails to paper over No 10 cracks
JEREMY HUNT quipped that Liz Truss “painted over” Boris Johnson’s disputed Downing Street wallpaper as he used a speech to joke about both former prime ministers.
The Chancellor said he and his family “wanted to see the wallpaper” at No11 before moving into their new flat this weekend. Mr Johnson and his wife, Carrie, reportedly put up £840-a-roll gold wallpaper as part of a £200,000 refurbishment.
In a speech at the Spectator’s Parliamentarian awards, where he won “survivor of the year”, he continued: “The massive disappointment was to discover that that wallpaper had started to peel off of its own accord and had actually been painted over by Liz Truss.”
“So I will be saying to my children: scratch over there, there’s gold in them walls’.” His comments sparked an unlikely row over the renovation, as supporters of Ms Truss told The Times she did not even get round to any decorations in Downing Street during her 49 days in power.
However, others who worked on the campaign insisted she had repainted the walls of the flat, while there were separate claims there was not even any gold wallpaper in the first place.
But some of the most eye-catching comments on the night were those of Theresa May, who fittingly picked up the Speech of the Year title. “Piers [Morgan] told the story of having spoken to me for 20 minutes at a Spectator party, gone home, and said he couldn’t remember a single thing I had told him,” Mrs May recalled.
“I don’t know if it’s any consolation, Piers, but I couldn’t remember a single thing you asked me – indeed I don’t remember speaking to you at all. Of course, that hasn’t stopped him from constantly asking me to do an interview. But I guess that’s just because it’s hard to get guests on Talktv.”