NIGEL Farage clashed with an exasperated Susanna Reid in a fiery debate on Good Morning Britain today.
The Reform UK leader immediately locked horns on the ITV breakfast show on a number of topics, including Brexit, immigration and the law – before being told “you’re trying to inflame people”.
It was his remarks about the mass murder of children in Southport and resultant mass riots in July, as well as the subsequent discussions on Contempt of Court which irked Reid the most.
She said he had been accused by Tory party leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat of “amplifying false information” in relation to a video he posted claiming police had “withheld the truth” about the alleged perpetrator.
The presenter couched the discussion by emphasising there is an ongoing legal process, which they must be careful not to jeopardise.
Farage cut in: “We always hide behind that, don’t we?”
Reid hit back: “That’s the rule of law in this country, that we don’t compromise someone’s fair trial and allow the families of those who’ve suffered to hear the truth.”
Farage said: “We hide behind this again and again…”
To which Reid cut in: “Why do you say ‘hide behind’? You are fully in support of the rule of law, you know what Contempt of Court is.”
As Farage began to retort, she told him: “Please don’t veer into Contempt of Court.”
The former UKIP leader referred to Lib Dem peer Lord Carlisle and Westminster “legal tsar” Jonathan Hall KC both saying governments, in general, hide behind the idea of a legal process.
Farage said: “Susanna, you can shake your head…”
She answered: “I am absolutely shaking my head… you asked if the truth is being withheld from us…”
He cut in: “Of course it’s being withheld.”
Farage then brought up the 2023 Nottingham mass killings carried out by Valdo Calocane – pointing to the fact that it took his trial to reveal that doctors had previously advised he was a danger.
Reid said: “Those are two completely different cases. That’s not how the rule of law works.”
Farage said: “The public deserve to know the truth.”
He went on to say: “Why do you think the riots happened in the way they did? Because there was a vacuum, people were not being told the truth.”
Reid’s co-presenter Ed Balls accused Farage of trying to help “inflame” people into rioting amid incorrect claims the suspect was an immigrant spread on social media.
“You’re a Member of Parliament, you’ve got responsibility now, you can’t just behave like some pundit on some TV show,” he said.
Earlier in his appearance, Farage had told the show the Conservative brand is “completely damaged” and he has no intention of doing a deal with the next Tory leader.
Farage said of the four Conservative Party leadership candidates: “They all think with a new leader ‘it’ll all be fine, all the voters will come back to us’, and what they don’t understand is the Conservative brand is completely damaged, they have no chance of winning the next election.”
He added: “There would be no deal with them, I wouldn’t trust them anyway, they have a pattern of behaviour pretending to be one thing and then when they’re in government being quite the opposite.
“And, frankly, what I’m trying to do with Reform is replace them.”
Pressed on the Tory record on Brexit and asked if he was proud of the UK’s exit from the EU, Mr Farage said: “Do I think getting back our independence was the right thing to do? You bet your life.
“Do I think we’ve handled it well? Good Lord, no.”
