After a grim night for the Conservative Party, Mr Dowden appeared on GB News to discuss the local election results.
Joining Breakfast with Stephen and Anne, he insisted that the results are not fatal for his party and that Labour does not have “the momentum to get into government”.
He said: “It’s a difficult set of results, particularly in London, and you’ve highlighted some of those.
“But equally we’ve made gains elsewhere – whether that’s Hartlepool, Nuneaton or Thurrock.
Oliver Dowden speaking to GB News
GB News
Mr Dowden appeared on Breakfast with Stephen and Anne
GB News
“And this is against a backdrop, as you say, of us being mid-term.
“When you take all of that, the result doesn’t demonstrate that Labour has the momentum to get into government.”
Mr Dowden also agreed with GB News’ Anne Diamond that, for an opposition party fighting in a mid-term election, Labour “haven’t done as well as they should” in the 2022 results.
It came as he was quizzed about the price of supermarket own-brand goods, after Environment Secretary George Eustice was rounded on for suggesting consumers should swap to value brands as the cost of living continues to bite.
Mr Dowden told LBC: “I’m afraid I rarely get the opportunity to go to the shops, given my extensive duties as chairman of the Conservative Party, but when I pop down to my local Tesco’s, of course I buy own-brand products.
“I wouldn’t know the price of a tin of baked beans – I’ll tell you why, I have never liked baked beans.
“I’ve never purchased a tin of baked beans in my entire life.”
Mr Dowden then guessed the price of milk at “around 50p”.
