Ed Balls has sparked ANOTHER Good Morning Britain bias row after a ‘sickening’ clash with a pub landlord on Wednesday.
The ex-shadow chancellor, 57, bumped heads with Michael Westwood over a petition to call for a general election.
Westwood joined Balls and Susanna Reid on the ITV show to discuss his viral petition and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer‘s response to the growing number of signatures.
However, the discussion quickly turned sour as the former politician questioned the landlord’s alignment with the Conservative Party.
The landlord said: ‘The current Government told a pack of lies to get into power and I don’t think they should be allowed to sit back and go ‘too many people, I don’t care’. How’s that right?’
Taking to social media, viewers raged that Balls should not have been part of the conversation due to him being a former Labour frontbencher and husband to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
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Ed Balls has sparked ANOTHER Good Morning Britain bias row after a ‘sickening’ clash with a pub landlord on Wednesday
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The ex-shadow chancellor, 57, bumped heads with Michael Westwood over a petition to call for a general election
One user on X fumed: ‘Ed shouldn’t be allowed to comment on political matters due to an obvious conflict of interests ?’
Another echoed: ‘Ed balls should NOT be asking political questions as it’s a conflict of interest he was a Labour MP and his wife is home secretary Yvette cooper.’
A third said: ‘Ed Balls should NEVER have been allowed to ask questions. His wife, Yvette Cooper, is the Home Office minister ffs He is completely biased. Shame on ITV.
‘Why is Ed Balls still allowed to be in this position when he cant be neutral ? He is bias beyond belief,’ commented a fourth.
A fifth penned: ‘Totally inappropriate for Ed Balls to be part of this. And don’t shout balance because they played good cop, bad cop. Unprofessional.’
A sixth added: ‘Ed Balls needs to go would he question his wife (Home Secretary) like that? No I don’t think so.’
Balls asked Westwood on the show: ‘Who decides when it’s okay to break a promise and when it’s not okay to break a promise other than the voters in a general election? Should that be decided by the courts, by you, by petition or by general elections?’
The pub owner replied: ‘I’m not politician, I never claimed to be a politician.’
Taking to social media, viewers raged that Balls should not have been part of the conversation due to him being a former Labour frontbencher and husband to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper
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Balls asked Westwood on the show: ‘Who decides when it’s okay to break a promise and when it’s not okay to break a promise other than the voters in a general election? Should that be decided by the courts, by you, by petition or by general elections?’
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The pub owner replied: ‘I’m not politician, I never claimed to be a politician.’
Balls then hit back: ‘But you’re having a big political impact, it’s a great debate, I’m just wondering who do you think should decide?’
Westwood responded: ‘We’ll see because there’s no way we’re getting a general election.’
The fresh backlash comes after ITV defended allowing Ed to interview his wife on the show.
The broadcaster came under fire after the former Labour cabinet minister – who is now a regular presenter on the ITV breakfast show – grilled Ms Cooper in her role as the Home Secretary.
A spokesperson for GMB said: ‘Following a weekend of rioting and national unrest, GMB featured a range of interviews and discussion around this national emergency on today’s programme which included James Cleverly, Shadow Home Secretary, and Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary.
‘We are satisfied that these interviews were balanced, fair and duly impartial.’
GMB was branded ’embarrassing to the extreme’ after the interview by viewers who accused the bradcaster of a ‘huge conflict of interests’.
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It comes after ITV defended allowing Ed Balls to interview his wife Yvette on Good Morning Britain
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The broadcaster come under fire after the former Labour cabinet minister grilled his own wife in her role as the Home Secretary
Ed interviewed Ms Cooper alongside Kate Garraway, 57, about the riots across the UK and asked what the police, government and social media sites should be doing.
They questioned Cooper on the government’s refusal to label the riots ‘Islamophobic’, as posed earlier in the programme by Zarah Sultana.
Cooper began: ‘What we’ve seen on the streets of some cities and towns over the weekend frankly is criminal violence and thuggery.
‘That is what it is first and foremost, and that’s why it needs the full force of the law behind it.’
She added: ‘We have certainly seen some targeted attacks on mosques, and that clearly reflects Islamophobia.’
Balls said: ‘Can I ask, because we’ve talked about this a few times in the last few days – like many of our viewers will have done at home since those terrible killings in Southport – there have been identifiable individuals on social media who have been inciting not just riots but violence.
‘They’ve been using racist language and falsehoods. This is happening on the social media platforms.’
‘What should be done by the social media companies and the police and the government to stop this happening? It’s been happening for a week.’
She replied: ‘Well you’re right, Ed. We have seen things appearing online that are clearly criminal.’
‘Social media has put rocket boosters under far-Right extremist organisations and also some of the violence we have seen. Things that are criminal offline are also criminal online.’
