Tory leadership failure Esther McVey in foreign aid airport gaffe

Updated

- Fiona Phillips accuses Esther McVey of lying over Lorraine Kelly 'clash'

Esther McVey has claimed that foreign aid cash was being wasted on an airport on which the runway was built in the wrong direction - but she couldn't say where.

The faller at the first in the race for the Tory leadership made the gaffe during an interview with LBC's Iain Dale.

She had claimed: "We know some of that money is not spent as there is a rush at the end of the year to spend it. We know places have their own, whether it's space programmes. We know airports have been built and actually the runways are in the wrong direction cause of the winds. What we are saying is..."

Dale asked her: "Where has that happened?"

She continued: "There are vulnerable people back at..."

Dale pressed her again: "Where has that happened?"

McVey spluttered: "It's in one of the... err... err... continents abroad. We know we've got that airport where we can't take off and land because of the winds, the cross winds there. But what we've got Iain is people in the UK who are the most vulnerable here."

Watch the exchange in our video above.

LBC's James O'Brian had plenty to say on it later...

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