Shadow Health Secretary can’t say how much an NHS prescription costs in cringeworthy interview
Jon Ashworth also had a dig at Jeremy Corbyn and his aggressive supporters
THE SHADOW Health Secretary today became the latest Labour politician to be caught out on key figures in a TV interview.
Jon Ashworth was unable to say how much the standard NHS prescription charge is when asked by Victoria Derbyshire.
He admitted the moment was embarrassing, saying: "God, that's terrible, that is."
In the BBC2 interview, Mr Ashworth also criticised his own leader, saying he preferred Gordon Brown and joking that he might be targeted by pro-Corbyn trolls.
When Ms Derbyshire asked him how much NHS prescriptions costs are, he replied: "Oh no, it's going to be one of the ones where you catch us out.
"Everybody's going to be saying, 'He's the Shadow Health Secretary and he can't remember.'"
After the presenter told him the cost is £8.60, Mr Ashworth added: "God, that's terrible, that is. They're all going to be tweeting about it now."
Several top Labour figures have fumbled statistics during interviews in the run-up to tomorrow's election.
Diane Abbott notoriously claimed it would be possible to hire 10,000 police officers for just £300,000 during an LBC interview.
Jeremy Corbyn was caught trying to look up the cost of his own childcare policies on an iPad by a Woman's Hour presenter.
And both John McDonnell and Emily Thornberry had to grab crib sheets in the middle of live interviews to check their figures.
During Mr Ashworth's interview with Ms Derbyshire, which was broadcast this morning, he also failed to say how many council houses the last Labour government built.
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And he had a couple of digs at Mr Corbyn - when asked whether he prefers the current leader or Gordon Brown, he replied: "Oh, Gordon Brown.
"Sorry, I know I'll have all the Corbynistas tweeting at me now, but Gordon Brown gave me a job. I'll always have loyalty to Gordon."
Mr Ashworth recounted a fight he had with Mr Corbyn after the leader kicked him off a key party committee.
He said: "We had words, put it like that. I probably shouldn't talk about it - it's probably one for the memoirs."
The interview was the latest in a string of short films in which Ms Derbyshire drives politicians around grilling them on serious issues.