Viewers of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg said they were switching off during the show's lengthy interview with Prime Minister Andy Burnham, broadcast from Liverpool, where the Labour Party is holding its annual conference.
As the host pressed the party leader on his plans for the country, some watching at home lost interest in the head-to-head.
Viewer backlash on social media
One person commented on X: "Why can't Laura Kuenssberg let any of her guests speak? Another week I'm switching it off."
Another added: "Blimey. No wonder people cancel their BBC licence fee. Laura Kuenssberg presenting the turn me off show today."
A third viewer said they had not paid their licence fee and would not do so given the line-up, writing: "A diverse panel for the BBC's flagship Laura Kuenssberg political show today, ranging from a Labour MP, and ex Labour MP, and a Labour Mayor. I haven't paid this shower of s***e a penny in over 6 years, and I don't plan on doing so ever again."
Interview criticised over immigration and tax
A fourth viewer shared: "I've just endured thirty minutes of Andy Burnham on Laura Kuenssberg and it's thirty minutes I'll never get back. His performance on immigration was excruciating and utterly disastrous..."
A fifth thought the interview was pointless, asking: "Did you listen to his interview with Laura Kuenssberg? He literally will not answer any questions...what's the point of having him on?"
During the chat, Kuenssberg challenged Burnham on taxation, pointing out he would need to raise taxes to fulfil his plans for the care system.
Burnham responds on care funding
Burnham said: "I'm going to rip the plaster off, if I can put it that way, because someone has to do it. So let's then be."
Kuenssberg put to him: "You say you want to be honest. You want to look people in the eye. You can look the country in the eye right now and say, you want care in England to be like the NHS, everyone pays for the NHS. It comes out of general taxation. So, is that how this is going to work? Everyone will contribute if everyone's covered, because that means more tax."
Despite a pledge not to raise taxes, he acknowledged: "It will be a system of that kind. So, everyone contributes, everyone's covered, but not precisely necessarily in the same way that we currently pay for the NHS..."
He added: "...I have been thinking about it for years, and I'm making a speech on Tuesday, and I will I will say more there. I'm not I'm not avoiding your your question. I will just set it out in the right way, because the history of this has been in an interview like this, the opposition party will leap on one comment and then they will call the policy a dementia tax or a death tax."
He continued: "Can I just say we have dementia taxes right now, and people can lose everything they've worked for paying those taxes. So the the idea that there isn't already a cost is just wrong. It's just making that cost fairer and spreading it across across the population."
