Cabinet minister Chris Bryant threw a petulant strop on the airwaves this morning after the BBC dared to ask him about the NEETs crisis. The Northern Ireland Secretary dialled in to the Today programme, where presenter Jonny Dymond spent eight minutes discussing Labour’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill. The legislation, eviscerated by veterans’ groups, ends the Tories’ immunity from prosecution for suspects linked to Troubles-era killings who cooperate with an information recovery body.

After that lengthy discussion, Dymond turned to welfare reform. Bryant could barely wait for the question before launching into a sulk about the temerity of a presenter asking a cabinet minister about one of the day’s most pressing political issues. He whinged:

Jonny, do you mind if we actually just stick to my job as Northern Ireland Secretary. Honestly, what happens on the Today Programe quite often is Northern Ireland is dealt with for like three minutes…

Dymond cut in to point out that they had, in fact, spent eight minutes on Northern Ireland. Bryant was having none of it. ‘I came on to talk about my job! We’ve just had a major issue in Drumcree where, you know, some people have been retraumatised by issues that haven’t been around for thirty years. I know sometimes people feel as if Northern Ireland was all sorted thirty years ago and that’s not the case.’

When Bryant made clear he had no intention of answering any questions on welfare, Radio 4 ‘left it there’. He could talk for eight minutes about his own brief, but answering one question on NEETs was apparently too much work for Bryant. Go figure.

Pomposity overload on the Today Programme as presenter has temerity to ask Cabinet minister Chris Bryant a single question about welfare reform… pic.twitter.com/d1otN9FmNn

— Guy Adams (@guyadams) October 19, 2026

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