GMB's Ed Balls says Nigel Farage will never be PM
Susanna Reid was forced to step in as Ed Balls made a bold claim about Nigel Farage.
Wednesday's instalment (December 4) of Good Morning Britain saw the TV duo team up for the third time this week, discussing some of the biggest stories hitting the headlines.
Susanna and Ed were joined by Nadine Dorries and Kevin Maguire, where they deliberated about Andrea Jenkyns joining the Reform Party.
During the conversation, Ed claimed that Reform Leader Farage will never be Prime Minister.
The 57-year-old continued: "It's totally not impossible that Reform wins an election. Every time Nigel Farage has been faced with the idea of governing, of actually acting, I think he's not that kind of person.
"He's an outsider. The alliance of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson together, that would be powerful."
Susanna later assured viewers that Ed remains neutral, leading to a flurry of backlash from viewers.
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One wrote: "Yeah Ed Balls, ex Labour MP, married to a Labour cabinet member is totally neutral & unbiased, of course he is."
Another declared: "Ed Balls is not neutral."
A third penned: "Susana quickly butting in to desperately defend Ed as 'neutral', followed by a laughing emoji.
A further viewer shared: "Peak Ed Balls as he moves attention on to a Farage Johnson alliance and opens up the Who is leading the Right debate further Nadine for once speechless."
Ed's impartiality has come into question a number of times on Good Morning Britain, most notably back in August when he interviewed his wife Yvette Cooper on the programme.
Yvette was on GMB to discuss whether the police's response to the nationwide riots had been sufficient.
Ed and his co-host Kate Garraway questioned Yvette on the government's refusal to label the riots 'Islamophobic', as posed earlier in the programme by Zarah Sultana.
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However, the contents of the interview was largely ignored as viewers claimed there was a "huge conflict of interest" in Ed interviewing his wife.
One wrote on X: "Interesting that Ed Balls doesn’t interrupt his wife when interviewing but with other guests he does every 5 mins #gmb #goodmorningbritain."
A second agreed: "Ed Balls is going to interview his wife? How is this @GMB being impartial and NOT a huge conflict of interest, embarrassing in the extreme... and he hasn't talked to the home secretary about her job and the situation... really?"
Another fumed: "Sorry this is insane! You can’t have Ed Balls on a program ‘interviewing’ his own wife, what a stupid stupid editorial decision! I can’t believe Yvette Cooper went along with this!"
The outrage sparked more than 8,000 Ofcom complaints, with viewers arguing that it would be impossible for him to remain impartial due to their relationship.
Despite the complaints, ITV defended their decision as a spokesperson stated: “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."
