ITV This Morning outrage as ‘bias’ row erupts over ‘soft’ Keir Starmer grilling amid election petition fury: ‘Car crash!’
Several viewers of ITV daytime staple This Morning have taken to the web to express their anger at how an interview with the prime minister was conducted on Monday.
Days after farmers took to the streets to protest the Labour government’s inheritance tax raid and as a petition calling for another General Election soars past the two million signature mark, Starmer spoke to Cat Deeley and Andi Peters about a wide range of issues.
Kicking off their 17-minute interview, Peters and Deeley asked Starmer to delve into the need for a new law against the spiking of drinks.
The PM outlined that he wanted the government to make it “easier for our police and our courts” to identify the offence and prosecute, adding he was “determined” to “push down” on offenders.
Deeley and Peters nodded along before the former also brought up a rise in offences targeted at women on public transport, something Starmer said he’d been having “big roundtables” to discuss in parliament.
Once their discussion about the new spiking law was over, Peters asked the prime minister: “Has it been five months you expected it to be?”
Starmer let out a wry smile and while he didn’t address specific backlash to any specific policy, he told the ITV duo: “I took the decision that we’d make the hard decisions first.
“You have to do the hard yards up front… we’re doing the tough stuff,” he added before insisting he was “really pleased we were able to put so much money into the National Health Service and education” following the controversial Budget.
Starmer continued to defend the government’s actions without delving into specific policies as he repeated: “You can’t do both, you can’t say we want to fix the NHS and we won’t put up a single penny in tax… I’m not pretending to those that are impacted that things aren’t tough.”
However, while Peters and Deeley’s interview had been rather smooth sailing during its first few questions, Peters was keen to grill the PM on the new petition that has emerged calling for another General Election due to his performance in office.
“I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election,” Starmer replied. “I’m not surprised that many of them want a re-run, that isn’t how our system works.
“There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in in the first place. What our focus is on is the decisions that I have to make every day.”
But Peters interjected: “But surely you want us, the public, to trust you, to like you, to think, ‘He’s the man for the job, he’s doing what he needs to do’?”
In a dig towards the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Peters swiped: “Your approval rating is lower than Nigel Farage’s right now which, even saying it the Prime Minister of the country I live and I pay taxes in, your approval rating is lower than Nigel Farage…that’s disappointing.”
Starmer reiterated: “The thing is, if you make your mind up, as I have done, that we’re going to do the difficult things first, then I think it’s inevitable that people do feel they’re decisions. I mean, I understand that.”
The final more serious point on the agenda was the “shoplifting epidemic” that has ravaged UK high streets and small business owners everywhere.
When asked how he’d combat it, Starmer answered: “Firstly, it’s awful… what happened under the previous government is that there was a threshold of anything under £200 would not be prosecuted and it became the norm, we’re changing that.”
While intricate details on how he’d do so were left out, the interview soon turned to rather less pressing matters, such as whether or not the prime minister had brought his children a new pet dog following his last appearance on the daytime show.
Starmer was then asked what his plans for Christmas Day were, whether he would be doing the cooking, what his signature dish in the kitchen is, and what he got up to while celebrating his daughter’s birthday over the weekend.
The line of questioning left plenty to be desired among several viewers at home who felt the omission of things like the farmers’ protests, the winter fuel tax outrage and other controversial policies rendered the interview “weak”.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one viewer said as much as they fumed: “#ThisMorning the interview with Keir Starmer was weak, they should have gone further. Cat was all over him with that fake smile. Andy was good but should’ve addressed huge tax rises, Rachel Reeves lying CV and that she cannot be trusted.”
A second took issue with Peters’s remarks towards Farage, sarcastically hitting out: “Nice balanced interview of Kier Starmer on This Morning. ‘You’re even less popular than Nigel Farage says Andy Peters, which is so disappointing to me’. Not at all biased. #thismorning.”
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Meanwhile, a third slammed: “#ThisMorning the job of any politician is to evade any question put to them….they don’t care unless it affects them!
“The UK & society is a joke right now yet we are not laughing. What a car crash of a soft cell interview. Very disappointing! Cooking, his family or his cat NO.”
“Watching Cat Deeley sucking up to Starmer, I nearly brought my breakfast up!! #ThisMorning,” a fourth hit out while a fifth said: “Kier Starmer is still coming out with the broken record rubbish and using the NHS to try and get people on board. He’s done nothing but lie after lie.”
However, there was some support for the PM and the interview as a whole, with one ITV viewer applauding: “#ThisMorning what an absolute scoop getting the PM onto the sofa for some real stuff. Well done! @Keir_Starmer.”
And a second was won over by Starmer’s answers: “Short term pain for long term gain is what it is but it’s achievable. Starmer is not perfect but he’s an improvement on the last bunch & he’s doing ok. I suspect it will get better. #ThisMorning.” (sic)