Michael Portillo calls Chris Grayling 'the most incompetent minister of all-time' and says he has only kept his job because of Brexit
Former Tory MP and cabinet minister Michael Portillo isn't too impressed with the current transport secretary Chris Grayling.
During an appearance on the BBC political chat show This Week, the 65-year-old branded Grayling's failed deal with Seaborne Freight as 'incompetent.'
There have been numerous calls from Labour for Grayling to resign from his position over the fiasco, but Portillo claims he's still in the cabinet because he is a 'Eurosceptic.'
Portillo told This Week host Andrew Neil:
As Labour said in the chamber – the most incompetent minister of all time, probably.
But of course, the reason he is there is because he is a Eurosceptic in the cabinet and nearly all the other eurosceptics have jumped ship now and for the prime minister to lose another Eurosceptic would be very damaging.
Last week, the £13.8m contract with Seaborne, previously agreed by the government, was cancelled after it was revealed that the company had never run a ferry service and that they couldn't get the financial backing that they required from the Irish company Arklow Shipping.
Another guest on This Week, former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson, added that Theresa May is keeping certain members of the cabinet in order to improve people's impression of her.
For Theresa May I think there might be a little bit of this, you know, keeping them there makes the rest of them look good.
This came after Neil, who is due to leave This Week in July, said that both May and Jeremy Corbyn are "uncomfortable with bright people" with May not liking people "to be too talented around her".
More: Transport secretary Chris Grayling says he is 'not a specialist in rail matters'