Piers Morgan Tries To Place A Bet Of Up To £1.5m With Wes Streeting During BBC Question Time
“Let’s have a bet… a pound for every home you don’t build”
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) December 12, 2024
TV host Piers Morgan says Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes is “not going to happen” #bbcqtpic.twitter.com/fmTfWS6iFX
Piers Morgan tried to place a bet of up to £1.5 million with Wes Streeting during BBC Question Time last night.
It comes after Labour pledged to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament in 2029, in a bid to address the housing crisis.
The broadcaster asked the health secretary to donate a pound for every home the government fails to build – but Streeting was having none of it.
The Uncensored host began by saying he believed those homes would not be built, adding: “It’s just not going to happen.”
Streeting said: “You really are the grinch this Christmas aren’t you?”
Morgan hit back: “I don’t want to be the grinch, but it’s just not going to happen. In the same way the promises we got from the Conservatives did not [happen].”
He added: “OK great, let’s have a bet.”
Streeting jumped in: “Not this again, we’ve seen where this goes with all your bets.”
Then prime minister Rishi Sunak found himself in hot water in February this year when he agreed on a £1,000 bet with Morgan over deportation flights to Rwanda would take off before the general election.
Sunak infuriated his critics with the wager, with many claiming it was tasteless for two wealthy figures to be betting on the lives of refugees.
Sunak, who is a multi-millionaire in his own right, then lost the bet and irked the broadcaster by refusing to pay up.
But Morgan persisted with Streeting, and said: “A pound for charity, a pound for every home up to 1.5 million you don’t build over the parliament [term]. You taking it?”
“Unlike Rishi Sunak, I don’t have that kind of money,” Streeting said, laughing.
“So you’re admitting you’re not going to hit the target is my point,” Morgan hit back.
The broadcaster then pointed out how Paris managed to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral in just five years after it was damaged by a huge fire.
“They did it because they had a will to do it,” Morgan said, before comparing it to the Hammersmith Bridge which became unusable for cars in 2019 after developing cracks.
He said: “Five years later, and it’s still not got any cars. And we’re told it’s going to be at least another five years – in fact it may never reopen to cars – how can that be possible in a country like this? We used to be a world-beater. We can’t even repair cracks in a major bridge.”