GB News came to a halt on Wednesday as presenter Alex Phillips announced that Andy Burnham had admitted that there is a "strong indication that Iran played a part" in the suspected terror attack at RAF Fairford.
"Prime Minister Andy Burnham has finally decided to pay attention to a security threat in the UK," the journalist fumed live on air. "Why is it that Donald Trump and Marco Rubio said that two days ago?" she pointed out.
Phillips' scathing rant
"What were you doing?! You were just talking about 'hope in your heart' and wanting to renationalise everything at the cost of billions of pounds that we just don't have," Phillips said.
"It's just mad, he's gone mad!" Phillips exclaimed. "I just want to say something: Andy, mate, you are the prime minister, you're not the opposition leader in a general election. You're the prime minister!"
Burnham's admission
Phillips' comments came just hours after Burnham spoke with Sky News' Beth Rigby. "There is indeed a strong indication that Iran played a part," he noted. "This remains, though, a complex and very serious police investigation. So I can't say any more at this stage.
"People will know, though, it's consumed quite a considerable amount of my time here in Liverpool this week. I did chair COBRA on Monday. We have been waiting to confirm what we could say, but we can now confirm our belief that Iran played a part."
In a separate interview with the BBC, Burnham said that he and his government are "on top of it" and "would say more in due course".
Arrests and bail
Five men from London were arrested for offences under the Explosives Act near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Sunday morning. Though they were later released on bail on Monday, President Trump declared that they were aiming to do "big damage" to the base, which has been used by the US to launch airstrikes against Iran in recent months.
"We had them under view for a long time, and we got them," Trump said earlier in the week. Trump later blasted Burnham for releasing the five suspects on bail. "I will tell you, I would have said, 'don't let them have bail'. I'm surprised that they released them. I wouldn't have done that," he said while speaking at the White House.
Burnham has since responded: "I think people need to understand that when it says released, that isn't as people might think. It's obviously with the strictest possible bail conditions. The authorities have this under the strongest grip and closest control, and I can assure you of that."
