Ed Balls certainly didn’t mince his words as he grilled a Labour minister live on air over the launch of the ‘one-in one-out’ migration return scheme
Good Morning Britain host Ed Balls grilled Labour minister Lisa Nandy over Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s criticism of anonymous briefings within government, as he asked her “That’s not a good way of running a government is it?” During Wednesday’s visit (August 6) to the ITV studios, the 59-year-old broadcaster woke up the nation alongside his co-host Kate Garraway as they discussed the biggest stories hitting the headlines.
It didn’t take long before the discussion turned to the anonymous briefings that are going on in government, with the Deputy Prime Minister convinced that these discussions are happening withing number 10. During an appearance on The Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast, Rayner critcised these briefings after finding herself and other colleagues – often women – the subject of negative headlines in recent months, with several being tipped for the sack at a future reshuffle. She fumed: “Sometimes there are briefings and I don’t know where these alleged sources are and who is the person that is saying this.
Ed Balls grilled a Labour minister on Good Morning Britain (Image: ITV)
“That can be quite frustrating, because people will say it’s No 10’s briefing or it’s a source from No 10. But in reality, it’s like: ‘Well, who said that?’
“We’ve had these briefings that my colleagues – Bridget [Phillipson, the education secretary], Lisa [Nandy, the culture secretary] … [and] I am being marginalised. I’m like, ‘Where is that coming from?’”
She added: “It’s not a good idea to do that, and it wouldn’t be helpful to No 10 to do that – it’s not in No 10’s interest to brief that. So when anonymous sources are doing that, it’s a matter of self-harm. When they do that, it’s not the reality of how we work as a cabinet and how our colleagues conduct themselves.”
Later on in the show, Ed asked Lisa to address these rumours as he called out the major issues the political party are facing. He argued: “It’s pretty clear thinks that Angela Rayner thinks they’re coming from number 10.
Lisa Nandy addressed the ‘anonymous briefings’ on the show (Image: ITV)
“She says it’s a matter of self-harm, these briefings are for reshuffles to come and that your jobs are being under threat. It’s just not a good way to run a government, is it?”
She replied: “Look, the Prime Minister reached out to me when there were briefings against me, and I think he is more frustrated than anybody else about these briefings. He hates them and he’s been absolutely crystal clear with his own team and the cabinet that he won’t tolerate them.
“He said that if people are found to be doing this, then they’re gone. And he’s right to do that because if you look at the challenges that we’ve got in the country, you know, we’re bringing down waiting lists, but we’ve still got progress to make. We inherited a court system that was falling apart, prisons that were overcrowded.
“There are very, very real problems in people’s lives, not least the problem that we’ve been talking about that we’re tackling today around only one in five young people in the last year has been able to access any arts or music revision at all.
“These choices and chances are being choked off for a whole generation and as a government we have to be ruthlessly focused on that. We cannot be distracted by people who are trying to stop us from getting on with our jobs.”
It didn’t take long before viewers flooded to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their thoughts on the fiery debate online. One user penned: “Labour policies are doing a good enough job of undermining the country daily 0 anonymous briefings is just inflating on top!”
Another echoed: “This government is absolutely wrecking this country” as a third echoed: “Of course there’s briefings – that’s the nature of politics. Your lying Labour party promo fell flat on its face!”
Good Morning Britain airs every day from 6am on ITV1 or catch up on ITVX.
