Ed Balls was quick to respond when Reform MP Robert Jenrick was caught slamming his own appearance on Good Morning Britain while still live on air.
The former Tory MP was on the ITV news programme on Wednesday (July 22) morning when he was asked about a viral clip of Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood appearing to joke about Labour's early release prison scheme. He went on to criticise the current Labour government and the previous Conservative government for failing to build new prisons or reduce the backlog of criminal cases that had piled up.
Reid challenges Jenrick
But Susanna Reid responded: "And, of course, you must accept some responsibility, don't you? As a former government minister?" She continued: "When you criticise the former Conservative government, that was a government of which you were a minister in the Home Office, responsible for policing. Do you feel a sense of shame?"
However, Mr Jenrick, Reform UK's spokesperson for the Treasury, clarified that he resigned from the last Conservative government because of "its failures" and "ultimately left it". When Susanna continued to push her questioning on the matter, Mr Jenrick seemed increasingly unimpressed. "Most of this conversation has been about the past rather than the present," he bemoaned as Susanna argued back, resulting in them speaking over one another.
Jenrick's comment caught on air
Eventually bringing the interview to an end, Ed and Susanna continued with the programme; however, in the same moments, Mr Jenrick was heard saying: "Well, that was a waste of time," while his microphone was still broadcast to the nation.
The comment stopped Susanna speaking as she delivered her next link, and Ed quickly replied: "I don't think it was a waste of time. I think Robert Jenrick gave us very clear answers on the police investigation. It's not a waste of time to make clear that he believes there is no police investigation." He continued: "I mean, it was good he came on the programme," to which Susanna said: "And we are very grateful for his time," before moving on with the show.
Mr Jenrick later wrote on X: "We've got Ed’s useless mates back in government, people are struggling, and he can’t be bothered to ask how Reform would do things differently." He added: "For the record: Reform will cut your energy bills by £200 by cutting VAT *and* by removing green levies."
