Political commentator Ian Hislop slammed a former Tory minister when she tried to accuse the BBC of bias this week.
On the comedy quiz show, Have I Got News For You which aired on Friday night, Andrea Jenkyns – who lost her seat to Labour in July – clashed with Hislop, even though they were on the same team.
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As host Amol Rajan asked the panel if they thought ex-PM Boris Johnson would come back to frontline politics, Jenkyns said: “I don’t think it’s over for him, no.”
She added: “I still think Boris was one of our better prime ministers.”
That triggered a wave of boos from the crowd, to which Jenkyns said: “I see you’ve selected the audience to people who don’t like Boris or Conservatives.”
As the crowd laughed, Hislop hit back: “You can’t just say, ‘you’ve selected the audience’. You’ve got no evidence for that!
“No proof, it’s just bollocks. This isn’t GB News!”
Hislop sat back, frowning, as the audience cheered.
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Jenkyns later clipped the moment and put it on her Instagram account, writing: “I clearly played well to the Conservative and Boris loving audience on #HIGNFY@haveigotnews 😉.”
The former MP, who served as a minister in Johnson and Liz Truss’s cabinets, was also reminded of the time she put her middle finger up at crowds outside No.10 in July 2022.
Ofcom has ruled that GB News broke guidelines around impartiality with a broadcast involving prime minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.
Back in February, Sunak held what was billed as a “people’s forum” in which he answered questions from undecided voters in County Durham in a much-derided live broadcast.
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A week after it aired, it was revealed that more than 500 viewers had complained to Ofcom about the segment, which led to an investigation.
On Monday morning, the media regulator confirmed that GB News did, in fact, break impartiality guidelines by not incorporating a more “wide range of significant views” into what was technically a news broadcast.
In a statement on their website, they explained: “Ofcom has no issue with this programme’s editorial format in principle. In line with freedom of expression, broadcasters are free to innovate and use different editorial techniques in their programming – including offering audiences innovative forms of debate. But in doing so, they must observe the rules in our Broadcasting Code.
“We recognised that this programme would focus mainly on the Conservative Party’s policies and track-record on a number of specific issues, meaning that Conservative viewpoints would be prevalent. We are clear that this, in and of itself, did not mean the programme could not comply with due impartiality rules under the Code.
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“It was incumbent on GB News, however, given the major matters under discussion, to ensure that an appropriately wide range of significant views was given due weight in the programme or in other clearly linked and timely programmes.”
GB News could now face sanctions due to this breach, with Ofcom adding: “Given the very high compliance risks this programme presented, we found GB News’s approach to compliance to be wholly insufficient, and consider it could have, and should have, taken additional steps to mitigate these risks.
“We found that an appropriately wide range of significant viewpoints were not presented and given due weight in the People’s Forum: The Prime Minister, nor was due impartiality preserved through clearly linked and timely programmes.
“As a result, we consider that the Prime Minister had a mostly uncontested platform to promote the policies and performance of his Government in a period preceding a UK General Election.”
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This is far from the first time that GB News has been in hot water with Ofcom, though.
Last year, it faced another investigation due to a live broadcast which sawLaurence Fox launching into a sexist tirade against a female journalist during an appearance on Dan Wootton’s evening show.
In response to Ofcom’s latest decision, a GB News spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Ofcom’s finding against GB News today is an alarming development in its attempt to silence us by standing in the way of a forum that allows the public to question politicians directly.
“The regulator’s threat to punish a news organisation with sanctions for enabling people to challenge their own prime minister strikes at the heart of democracy at a time when it could not be more vital.”
It went on to claim that their live programme gave an “gave an independently selected group of undecided voters the freedom to challenge the Prime Minister” and that they “cannot fathom” how Ofcom came to their conclusion.
They say the ruling should “terrifying anyone” who believes the “media’s role is to give a voice to the people of the United Kingdom”.
GB News’ statement concluded by saying: “We are proud to be the People’s Channel and we will never stop fighting for the right of everyone in the UK, whatever their political persuasion, to have their perspective heard.”
This article has been updated to include GB News’ response to Ofcom’s ruling.
The Lee Anderson saga that has dominated British politics in recent days has taken an unlikely twist.
Anderson had the Tory whip removed over the weekend after he chose not to apologise for saying “Islamists” had “control” over London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim.
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The incident has escalated into a major row over how the government has handled the issue involving the former Conservative deputy chairman, and raised questions about whether Anderson might defect to Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party.
On Tuesday, GB News reported Anderson has held private one-to-one talks with Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK.
BREAKING on @GBNEWS now, Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson held private ‘one to one’ talks with Richard Tice, the leader of the Reform UK party, at a Holiday Inn hotel, at junction 28 of the M1 in South Normanton, Derbyshire on Sunday, 24 hours after he lost the Tory whip.
GB News political editor, Christopher Hope, reported the summit took place “at a Holiday Inn hotel, at junction 28 of the M1 in South Normanton, Derbyshire on Sunday, 24 hours after he lost the Tory whip”.
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The detailled location had many people on X thinking the same thing – specifically, they recalled the I’m Alan Partridge series set at The Linton Travel Tavern, where Steve Coogan’s character is faced with celebrity purgatory as he pleads for his talk show to be renewed while living “equidistant between Norwich and London”.
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Earlier, Anderson said prime minister Rishi Sunak made a “mistake” in stripping him of the Conservative whip when speaking to Channel 5 News.
On Monday, pressed during a GB News interview on whether he would join Reform UK, Anderson declined to comment but said he had “been on a political journey”.
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He said: “You’ll say Lee Anderson rules out/doesn’t rule out joining the Reform party, so I’m making no comment on my future.”
GB News pays Anderson a £100,000 salary, on top of his £86,584 MP pay, to present a show on its network.
NatWest chief executive Alison Rose has resigned after admitting to discussing Nigel Farage’s relationship with the bank with a senior BBC journalist.
Rose had remained in post after saying she made a “serious error of judgment” over talking to Simon Jack about the former Brexit party leader and his closed accounts, with the company’s board stating they had “full confidence” in her.
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But in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Howard Davies, chairman of the NatWest board, announced Rose had agreed to step down “by mutual consent”.
Her position had become untenable following the intense political and media scrutiny over a decision by NatWest’s private bank, Coutts, to close Farage’s accounts. NatWest is taxpayer-funded, with the state’s shareholding just below 40%.
Farage had alleged the decision to “exit” him was “political” after he obtained an internal document that said the “de-banking” was partly because his views were not “aligned” with the bank’s. The 40-page dossier refers to the ex-MEP as “xenophobic and racist” and a former “fascist”.
It raised into question a report by Jack, the broadcaster’s business editor, who had suggested Farage lost his account because he lacked the funds needed to hold it.
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Jack on Monday apologised to Farage, saying the information his reporting was based on “turned out to be incomplete and inaccurate”. This was followed by Rose’s admission on Tuesday and her subsequent resignation.
Before the departure, Farage had hit back at NatWest’s statement on his GB News show, criticising Rose as “unfit” to run a bank, as well as lambasting Davies and Coutts CEO Peter Flavel.
“The government ought to say we have no confidence in this management. Frankly, I think they should all go,” Farage said, after declaring that Rose had breached an “essential confidence”.
Rose confirmed in the statement that she had discussed Farage’s “relationship with the bank” with Jack.
“I recognise that in my conversations with Simon Jack of the BBC, I made a serious error of judgment,” Rose said, but added she had not revealed any personal financial information about Farage and had answered a general question about eligibility.
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Coutts’ website advises its clients should be able to borrow or invest at least £1 million with the bank or hold £3 million in savings.
Rose also said she was not part of the decision-making process to close Farage’s accounts and said this was a decision made by Coutts.
The government’s shareholding in NatWest is managed “at arm’s length” and on a commercial basis by the UK Government Investments (UKGI). UKGI’s role is to manage the shareholding, not the bank itself.
Treasury minister Andrew Griffith is set to meet lenders on Wednesday to discuss concerns that banks have closed customer accounts over their political views, ahead of reforms requiring banks to explain and delay these decisions.
It has once again prompted questions about the behaviour of MPs and how their parties handle complaints.
Asked on GB News if MPs are safe, Nichols said: “I don’t think that female MPs are, but I think that the people that are most at risk are parliamentary staff, particularly young women, and young gay men or men perceived to be gay, who have the least power in the institution.
“They are the most at risk and have the least form of redress of any of us.
‘Predators are given free rein to continue.’
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols says she was handed a list of ’30 MPs to avoid’ due to fears of sexual misconduct.
“I think the issue of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct is unfortunately baked into every single part of how the institution of Westminster operates. No party has clean hands on this.
“But one of the things that I’m concerned about is that I do expect my own party to be better.
“And we’re not having the ability to have the moral high ground at the moment because we can’t even keep our own house in order and on a personal and a professional level, I find it deeply, deeply upsetting.”
Nichols has previously revealed that when she first came into parliament she was given a list of around 30 MPs to avoid, adding: “This was MPs from all different parties, including a handful from my own.”
A Labour spokesperson said the party would urge people with complaints to come forward so they can be investigated and action taken.
Politico website said a sitting Labour MP had also registered a complaint against Davies.
The outlet had earlier reported that five women had made sexual harassment claims against the veteran politician.
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Davies said that he did not “recognise” the allegations, according to Politico.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “We would strongly urge anyone with a complaint to come forward so that allegations can be swiftly and fully investigated and action taken.
“The party has ensured that there is a wide range of support available to complainants, to provide confidence and confidential guidance throughout the disciplinary process.”
Donald Trump has given an interview to former Ukip leader Nigel Farage for GB News during his recent visit to Scotland.
It contained many of his usual talking points – including bashing Meghan Markle and US president Joe Biden – but also a number of curiosities.
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1. War in Ukraine “analysis”
Trump claimed it would be “easy” to end the grinding, 14-month war in Ukraine – defying every serious analysis of the conflict.
He said: “If I were president, I will end that war in one day. It’ll take 24 hours. I will get that ended. It would be easy.
“That deal would be easy. A lot of it has to do with the money. That war has to be stopped. It is a disaster.”
Trump said he “got along great” with Russian president Vladimir Putin, adding: “Putin never would have gotten into Ukraine if it weren’t for the incompetence of this administration, this current administration.
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“Putin was not going in, it was never mentioned and I knew him very well.”
2. Gets angry with “windmills”
Trump has had a long-running battle with the Scottish government over blocking his plans for golf course development – with wind farms often standing in his way.
Here, Trump tried to re-frame his reputation as an uncompromising industrialist, and suggested he opposed “windmills” because he’s actually a bit of an environmentalist.
“You want to see a cemetery of birds?,” he asked Farage, a fellow turbine sceptic. “Walk under a windmill.”
He also had something to say about whales: “Wind farms seem to be driving them onshore. I don’t know what that’s all about that, but that’s certainly not good.”
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3. Compliments Farage’s eyesight
After the interview, Trump and Farage took a filmed, leisurely stroll around the ex-president’s Turnberry golf course, with the pair stopping at the clubhouse to look out on the manicured holes. An odd back-and-forth took place.
<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Former US president Donald Trump alongside Nigel Farage at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire.” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/5-bizarre-moments-from-donald-trumps-interview-with-nigel-farage-2.jpg”>
Former US president Donald Trump alongside Nigel Farage at the Trump Turnberry course in South Ayrshire.
Andrew Milligan – PA Images via Getty Images
Farage: “I saw you hole a good putt on the 18th.”
Trump: “Yeah, that was good.”
Farage: “That was for the four, wasn’t it?”
Trump: “That was for a four. Did you watch it from here? Were you able to see the ball go in the hole?
Farage: “Yeah!”
Trump: “You have good eyes. You don’t have any help with your eyes? You can see the ball going in the hole from here?”
Farage: “The only thing I need help with is short reading.”
Trump: “But long you have great eyes.”
Farage: “Almost be a pilot, you know.”
4. Calls Boris Johnson “far-left”
Trump said the ex-prime minister “changed a lot in office”, suggesting policies under his Conservative administration were “far-left”.
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Trump said the Tories “really weren’t staying Conservative”.
“They were going – I mean they were literally going far-left,” he continued.
“It never made sense. I’m saying this as an insider looking in, they were going far-left. What were they doing?”
5. Drops a Sean Connery impression
Trump was also critical of former Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon – again mainly as a result of perceived obstacles put in the way of his beloved golf courses.
Trump claims Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t love Scotland, then rolls out his Sean Connery impression because why not pic.twitter.com/myzTTIDnyF
Trump said he did not think that the former SNP leader, who announced her intention to step down in February, loved her country, adding: “Somebody who comes in and spends a lot of money … I remember Sean Connery saying ‘let him build his bloody golf courses!’.”
GB News pundit Laurence Fox has been accused of “spewing out biased views” by a respected doctor who came onto his show to discuss Covid vaccines.
Dr Bharat Pankhania, a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter’s medical school, took the sometime actor to task over his Covid disinformation.
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Fox introduced Dr Pankhania and asked him for his thoughts on a new report seen by GB News that the channel says criticises the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) roll out of the vaccines.
He was given short shrift. “I sometimes wonder why you exist, to be honest with you,” Dr Pankhania began.
“A lot of these things that you spew out, just send things that are worrisome to people, are not verified, not factual.
“You just have your own agenda, that’s what I think. You are just spewing out your biased views. That’s how I feel about you.”
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The clip went viral.
Always nice to see Laurence Fox getting his arse handed to him. But also, it sounds like GB News producers weren’t exactly straight with Dr. Pankhania when they were booking him. He obviously felt ambushed. pic.twitter.com/HZo7AFITmV
Dr Pankhania said he hadn’t read the report and hadn’t been told he was coming on GB News to discuss it. He accused Fox, a self-styled “anti-woke” campaigner, of an “ambush”.
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The medic defended the MHRA, saying: “With respect to the many, many millions of doses of the vaccines that have been administered, we’ve had a few unfortunate side effects … but overall on the balance of good versus harm, the good outweighs the harm. By a large, large margin,”
Expert slapping the wet fish of reality around the smug, entitled chops of Laurence Fox. There’s another expert they won’t be inviting back… 🤷♂️🤣pic.twitter.com/Zng7xG2jE0
On Tuesday, a clip of Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has his own GB News show, locking horns with anti-Brexit commentator Marina Purkiss also went viral.
She accused the Tories of using culture wars as a “distraction technique” to prevent people from focusing on the “real grievances in their lives which are caused by your government”.
Ironically, Anderson’s Labour predecessor as MP for Ashfield, Gloria de Piero, also has a show on GB News.
Anderson said: “GB News is the true voice of the great British silent majority. I’m joining the people’s channel to ensure their voice is heard.”
Michael Booker, the editorial director of GB News, said: “Lee has been a breath of fresh air in Westminster since he was elected, doing what many politicians are scared to do – talking honestly about what they believe.
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“Our viewers and listeners appreciate his common sense language, something that has been missing from politics for a long time.
“As the next election will be fought in the Red Wall, Lee’s insights into northern voters will be key.”
Anderson’s decision to join GB News adds to a growing trend of Tory MPs branching out into broadcasting.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries also has a Friday night chat show on TalkTV.
A Question Time panellist has defended the comments made by a royal aide to a Black domestic abuse campaigner, who was asked repeatedly where she “really came from” at a Buckingham Palace reception.
Ngozi Fulani, founder of the charity Sistah Space, has accused the royal family of institutional racism after the incident involving the late Queen’s lady in waiting, Lady Susan Hussey.
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Lady Susan, the Prince of Wales’s 83-year-old godmother, resigned from the household and apologised after she challenged Fulani when she said she was British at the Queen Consort’s reception highlighting violence against women and girls.
But on the BBC’s flagship politics show, Olivia Utley of the GB News broadcaster said Lady Susan was “cancelled for one misspeak”.
She said: “I think it was definitely a very clumsy and surprisingly crass comment from someone who’s spent their life doing these sorts of events.
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“But on the other hand I think it’s a bit sad that we live in a society where an 83-year-old woman with 60 years of public service behind her can just be cancelled for one misspeak.
“My heart really goes out to Ngozi Fulani because it sounds like a horrible experience and I can’t quite understand how it happened like that.
“But I think that everyone who knows Lady Susan Hussey says that she’s not in any way racist, she’s a very kind hearted woman, and the rest of her life is going to be blighted by that incident.
“So I worry a bit about cancel culture angle of this whole story but that’s not in any way to undermine what Ngozi Fulani went through because it does sound like a horrible experience.”
GBNews’ Olivia Utley: “Wouldn’t it be a bit nicer if we’d live in a society where people could be forgiven if they profusely apologise?”
If Olivia Utley doesn’t think people over the age of 65 should be held politically responsible when they say racist things… If @OliviaUtley wants us to treat them like children…
Describing how Lady Susan also touched her hair during the incident, Fulani told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I was stood next to two other women – black women – and she (Lady Susan) just made a beeline for me, and she took my locks and moved it out of the way so that she could see my name badge.
“That’s a no-no. I wouldn’t put my hands in someone’s hair, and culturally it’s not appropriate.”
Fulani said the comments were down to racism, not Lady Susan’s age.
“I’ve heard so many suggestions it’s about her age and stuff like that. And I think that’s a kind of a disrespect about ageism,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Are we saying that because of your age you can’t be racist or you can’t be inappropriate?
“If you invite people to an event, as I said, against domestic abuse, and there are people there from different demographics, I don’t see the relevance of whether I’m British or not British. You’re trying to make me unwelcome in my own space.”
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The Palace moved swiftly to respond to Fulani’s tweets on Wednesday morning, saying it took the incident at Tuesday’s reception “extremely seriously” and had investigated immediately.
A GB News anchor appeared to channel the characters from the hit film Don’t Look Up in a bizarre exchange with an actual expert on Thursday.
Adam McKay’s stark sci-fi, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, followed two scientists trying – and failing – to warn the world that a meteor was approach the Earth, soon to destroy it.
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It was clearly a thinly-veiled reference to the warnings the world has had over the climate crisis.
One of the scenes then seemed to play out in real life on GB News, when anchor Bev Turner appeared to dismiss the serious implications of the heatwave which has already descended on the UK, and may hit highs of 40C next week.
Addressing John Hammond, a meteorologist, on Wednesday, she said: “See John, you’re outside enjoying the sunshine. It’s not too hot, is it?”
He replied that the weather was much more mild – before issuing a stark reminder that “by earliest next week, you could scrap 20C, as it could well be 40C”.
″I think there will be hundreds if not thousands of excess deaths early next week.”
He said the charts he could see in front of him are “frightening”, adding that this will not be “nice weather”.
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“This will be potentially lethal weather for a couple of days. It will be brief but it will be brutal.
“Oh John,” the anchor cut across. “I want us to be happy about the weather!
“I don’t know if something has happened to meteorologists to make you all a little bit fatalistic and harbingers of doom, but broadcasters – particularly on the BBC – every time I’ve turned on, anyone is talking about the weather and they’re saying there’s going to be tons of fatalities.
“But haven’t we always had hot weather, John?
“Wasn’t the summer of 76 – that was as hot as this, wasn’t it?”
“Er, no,” the expert replied. “And we are seeing more and more records, more and more frequently, and more more severely, so yes some people always hark back to the summer of 1976, which was a freak event, over 40 years ago.
″But heatwaves are becoming more extreme, this is yet another one that is coming down the tracks towards us and I don’t think we should be too lighthearted over the fact that many are going to die over the next week because of the heat. Forty degrees [Celsius] – the sort of temperature, I’m afraid, that this country is just not geared up to cope with.”
‘I think there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of excess deaths… It will be brutal.’
Weather expert John Hammond issues a warning over the ‘extreme’ conditions expected next week.
