Susanna Reid in fresh ‘BIAS’ row as ITV GMB viewers fume at ‘aggressive’ grilling of new Reform UK chair: ‘Let him ANSWER!’
Good Morning Britain fans have overwhelmingly been left up in arms over an interview with new Reform UK chair, Dr David Bull, on Wednesday’s edition of the programme.
Just 24 hours after Bull was unveiled as Zia Yusuf’s successor following his resignation last week, the Reform UK chair was quizzed by Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley on a wide range of issues.
Bull’s appointment was announced on Tuesday by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at an event in London. The Reform UK leader said Bull would bring “terrific verve, energy, enthusiasm” to the role.
On Wednesday, both Madeley and Reid congratulated Bull on the new job before the former promptly began her line of questioning.
“What it comes with is a huge amount of scrutiny, of course, and how are you finding that in the few days you’ve had the job?” Reid put to Bull as her first probe.
“The transition has been extraordinary,” Bull replied as he explained how he went from presenting breakfast TV to being unveiled as the new Reform UK chairman in a matter of days.
He continued: “I’ve been in politics for many years, I was an MEP, I worked closely with Nigel (and) with Richard [Tice], we’ve built that party from the ground up.
“But you’re right, I wasn’t really prepared for the avalanche of comments, the majority of which have been really, really nice and actually some of them were hurtful and quite insightful, so I realised I need to be careful what I read for my mental health.”
Bull and Madeley then discussed their long-standing working relationship, given that the doctor used to work on the GMB host’s former talk show, Richard and Judy.
But once the pleasantries were over, Reid’s line of questioning veered towards more topical issues, including former Reform UK chairman Yusuf’s return to the party following his resignation and Farage’s stance on a proposed burka ban.
Reid then dredged up a tweet by Bull made in 2014 in which he appeared to criticise Farage, calling the now-leader of Reform UK an “idiot” and describing some of his rhetoric as “prejudiced” and “dangerous”.
The GMB host put to Bull: “In your tweet, when you said his comments were ‘ill-judged’, ‘prejudiced’, and ‘dangerous’, those three words will come up a lot when people describe Nigel Farage.
“So it’s pretty extraordinary that they’ve come up in a tweet that you yourself wrote and now you’re the chairman.”
“But you’ve got to look… Everyone’s going through now everything I’ve ever tweeted-” Bull began to respond before Reid cut him off: “But we’re now talking about Reform’s policy because those are words people associate.”
“Sure, but let’s be very clear-” Bull attempted to interject but found himself halted once more by Reid, who continued: “For instance – let me just ask the question – Zia Yusuf, he resigned because of the question asked about the burka.”
“That’s not true,” Bull interjected, to which an undeterred Reid went on: “Well, it’s one of the reasons he resigned; he said it’s not part of party policy.”
Bull eventually was able to set the record straight on Yusuf’s initial resignation. “He says he resigned because he was absolutely exhausted, he was working all hours that god sends, he has so many jobs!
“So I think when he was asked the burka question, that was probably the final straw for him. We’ve had a long conversation about it, I spoke to him the night before last-“
Reid then interrupted: “Does Zia now think the burka should be banned?”
“He said on a vote he would ban it,” Bull confidently replied, to which Reid grilled: “Okay, so he’s now been recruited to that policy.”
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“He has his own mind,” Bull remarked as Reid’s tirade continued: “We asked Chris Bryant, the government minister, if the burka should be banned and he couldn’t think of any reason why it should be.”
“It’s a free vote. It’s a matter of conscience-” Bull then began to explain before Reid cut in: “So it is now party policy, is it?”
“No, it is not,” Bull replied. “But I live in East London and I’ve seen a massive demographic shift. I don’t think that in a country like Britain, walking around with your face covered is good in terms of communication and social cohesion.
“So I’m very anxious about the rise of people who think it’s okay to hide their faces. We had a conversation yesterday about whether it’s a burka, whether it’s a crash helmet, if it’s a scarf or whatever.”
“But this is a religious motivation, isn’t it, that people wear the burka?” Reid asked, to which Bull delivered a question of his own: “Well, or are women oppressed and made to wear the burka?”
“Well, how would you know?” Reid quizzed, prompting Bull to hit back: “Then we need to ask them. This is why I said it’s a conversation to be had.”
The interview soon moved on and ended in a rather bizarre chat about the belief in ghosts, although Madeley couldn’t resist a jibe about Reform UK policy before bringing the interview to a close.
While Bull was all smiles as he bid farewell, how the interview was conducted left plenty to be desired among viewers at home, with some branding the interruptions and tone of the questioning as “aggressive”, “pathetic”, and “rude”.
“As usual, biased Reid!!! Barely let him answer aggressive questions!! Nasty piece of work,” one GMB viewer penned on X before a second praised Bull: “Personally thought he spoke quite well and tried to answer the questions as best as he could… little miss shouty on the other hand jumping in, trying to put words in his mouth and goading him.. It’s pathetic.”
A third weighed in: “Yes, I’m watching. When Susanna asks a question, she needs to shut up to let her guest reply. She constantly cuts them off. I don’t usually watch your program, and watching this reminds me of why.”
“Why the need to interview in such a confrontational manner?” a fourth questioned. “Dr David Bull was very composed considering Susanna Reid’s appalling rudeness.”
And a fifth was similarly dismayed with Reid, in particular: “I think Susanna Reid sees herself as a go-getting journalist instead of the WOKE, aggressive hair shaking, angry face pulling whilst constantly interrupting non-WOKE guests with outbursts & deliberately putting words in their mouth.
“@GMB she needs re-educating on how to interview,” they signed off.
However, there was some support for the ITV hosts, with several viewers hitting out at the decision to have a Reform UK member on the show to begin with.
Meanwhile, one supporter jumped to Reid’s defence amid the backlash, stating: “I like her questioning David bulls**t.
“She’s just asking questions we’d like to know answers to.” (sic)