Good Morning Britain descended into chaos during a fiery clash with Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, with viewers calling it 'hard to watch'. During Wednesday's programme, hosted by Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins, viewers slammed a "car crash" interview with Anderson.
Clash over migrant policy
While Anderson was defending his party's proposal over migrants crossing the Channel, he failed to answer the presenters' questions, and they continued to clash as he interrupted them and they all spoke over one another. Hawkins and Madeley had been reiterating France's rejection of Reform UK's plans to utilise the navy to return small boats in the English Channel to France.
At one point, Anderson hit out at Madeley after he referenced an interview with Zia Yusuf from earlier this week. He said: "I think what a responsible TV presenter would do, Richard, is actually watch the programme from the other day. At no point did Zia Yusuf say we would turn the boats back. He said they would be rescued in the sea, collected, put on our boats and taken back to France. It's people in the mainstream media like yourself and the journalists we've got out here that think for some reason that we can't do that."
Interview spirals into chaos
Madeley responded: "It's great to take a couple of punches from you, but you didn't answer the question." They continued to disagree as the interview spiralled into chaos, before Madeley attempted to bring the interview to an end, saying: "I don't think we can go much further than this, as Charlotte says, it's not up to us to criticize your policy."
"You are criticising it," Anderson hit back, and while Hawkins said she was reading facts from the French government's statement, he continued: "It's not a fact, it's not been tried." Hawkins added: "It is a fact that the French government are telling you, it would be a violation of their sovereignty and it wouldn't be legal, that's a fact to say what the French government have said."
Viewers react
Despite hearing the French government's statement read out to him, Anderson kept repeating: "It will work and it will save lives." "I've said it ten times now, we don't know until we've tried it," he concluded. Viewers blasted the interview as a "car crash" and "a joke", with one writing: "Lee Anderson is having an absolute nightmare on @GMB." Someone else echoed: "Absolute car crash interview with Lee Anderson on @GMB."
“GMB gets more like Fox News every day,” one person wrote. Among some viewers defending Anderson, one wrote: “Hard to watch. Just attacking Lee.” Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.
