Good Morning Britain has been hit by more than 1,000 Ofcom complaints after host Ben Shephard clashed with chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Last week, Ben, 45, and Susanna Reid, 49, spoke to Rishi, 40, about financial support, after countless people were left with “not a penny from the government” during the pandemic and lockdown.
Viewers appeared to side with the chancellor and a number of them – 1,008 in fact – complained to Ofcom about the discussion, according to The Sun.
Ben and Rishi particularly clashed, with the hunky host reading out one of the chancellor’s tweets which read: “You have not been forgotten. We will not leave you behind. We are all in this together.”
Ben Shephard clashed with Rishi Sunak over financial support or lack thereof (Image: ITV)
But Ben went on to add: “Unfortunately, that’s not true, is it?
“There are 2.9million people, nearly 9% of the workforce, that are currently excluded or forgotten about from all of these schemes.
“For one reason or another they cannot get access to some of those schemes that you have put into place.”
Rishi responded: “I don’t think that three million number is right and you’ve used it.
Some GMB viewers sided with Rishi Sunak after the heated debate (Image: ITV)
“It includes 1.5million people who do not quality for the support scheme because they are not majority self-employed.”
Viewers at the time were in support of Rishi, taking to Twitter to share their thoughts.
One said: “Rishi Sunak came out very well from that interview… not so much Ben and Susanna.”
And another wrote: ” Rishi Sunak absolutely smashing it this morning. Ben and Susanna have been owned!”
Ofcom received 1,008 complaints about the GMB segment (Image: ITV)
However one tweeted: “Sunak just demonstrated that he absolutely doesn’t understand how self employment works.”
The chancellor’s appearance on Good Morning Britain after the government ended its apparent boycott of the ITV show which lasted 201 days.
After a number of months, Health Secretary Matt Hancock made an appearance on the show and – in true GMB style – got a grilling from Piers Morgan.
Since then, he and other government representatives have returned.
This week, Piers grilled Hancock over what a “substantial meal” was, with the Health Secretary saying a scotch egg “absolutely could” count as one.
People had been wondering what exactly it meant, as pubs in England will not be allowed to serve alcohol without a substantial meal.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
