Labour minister says he can’t explain what party stands for because it’s discussed in ‘confidential meetings’

A Labour MP has claimed he can’t discuss what the party stands for because it is “confidential”, in what must be the most bizarre public relations logic we have ever seen.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain about Labour’s inability to do well in the polls, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the party does know what it stands for but opted to keep it a secret.

He said: “I can’t [share what the Labour Party stands for] – they’re confidential meetings.”

Of course.

Reacting to his nonsense, host Susanna Reid said: “You need to share it with voters at some point,” while co-host Adil Ray added he wasn’t “asking for pin numbers”.

Meanwhile, people on social media rinsed the politician for his gaffe:

Remembering how to be a politician, Ashworth added that the party was going to listen to British people to come up with policies. “Our schools can be much better, our NHS can be much better” he said – launching into policy buzzword bingo.

“We can do much better to make the air that we breathe cleaner,” he said, adding: “We’ve got to do more in the economy”. Sounds like thorough and concrete stuff.

Reid added that it was “ironic” that the party claims it needs to tell the electorate what it stands for, but can’t because it is “confidential.”

Ashworth said that that was “a throwaway comment” and added: “I was talking about the particular meeting but, look, we are going to be having a big policy review with the country.”

We can’t wait.