Tory shadow minister Helen Whately had a nightmare time of it on Question Time this week as she was challenged over her party’s position on the war in Iran.
The Conservative MP, who serves as shadow minister for work and pensions, appeared on the BBC programme alongside health secretary Wes Streeting, Josh Babarinde from the Lib Dems, the Greens’ Caroline Lucas and Reform’s James Orr.
One of the main topics of debate for the panel was the ongoing war in Iran and the UK’s position on the conflict.
So far, Keir Starmer has resisted calls from Donald Trump for British forces to join the US and Israel’s offensive on Iran, with the PM not wanting to involve the UK in another war.
Someone who hasn’t been so clear on the matter is Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who has shifted her position on the matter considerably.
And when Whately was asked to outline her party’s stance on the conflict, it didn’t seem to help matters.
READ NEXT: Decade of Tory austerity was key factor in near-collapse of NHS during Covid
As Fiona Bruce tried to nail down what exactly the Conservatives had been calling for on Iran, things were as clear as mud.
Whately struggled to explain what her party leader’s had meant with her initial stance, prompting Bruce to ask the audience whether they were confused by Whately’s response.
The answer was a resounding yes.
Streeting then jumped in, saying the Tories were “like the hokey cokey” on foreign policy, before completely skewering Whately on Badenoch’s flip-flopping.
Sharing the exchange on X, Whately’s performance was described as a ‘humiliating car crash.’
Someone else said Streeting had ‘wiped the floor with the woeful Helen Whately