Kate Garraway in furious on-air row with MP James Cleverly over policing figures

08 September 2023 , 07:27

991     0

Kate Garraway in furious on-air row with MP James Cleverly over policing figures

Kate Garraway found herself in a heated on-air clash with MP James Cleverly on Friday's instalment of Good Morning Britain as she questioned the politician on policing figures amid the ongoing search for escaped prisoner, Daniel Khalife.

MP Cleverly fumed that Kate was accusing him of lying and 'putting words in his mouth' after the TV presenter, 56, questioned him over the validity of police figures in the UK as the MP insisted that, in five years from now, there will be 22,000 more police officers around the nation.

"You're confident you're going to hit the target. You're confident that your figures are right and that it is a 20% increase. You're confident that there are more police per head of population that before, even though that has been challenged," Kate said before being interrupted by the MP.

Kate Garraway in furious on-air clash with MP James Cleverly over policing figures (ITV)

"Hang on Kate, I need to stop you there. You're saying different things to what I have said," Cleverly clapped back before Kate stepped in to say: "I am. I'm challenging the way you presented the figures. So you said that there are more police officers than ever before. But there is one argument that actually it's just a replacement of the 20,000 numbers that were cut."

"There's a second argument that says actually there is more volume than ever before but it doesn't really make sense in terms of reality because there are more people than ever before. This leads to a sense of not being trusted when we see deadline not being met," the presenter continued as her co-host, Ben Shephard watched on awkwardly.

Richard 'shuts up' GMB guest who says Hancock 'deserved' being called 'd***head'

The debate went from bad to worse when Cleverly said that Kate was accusing him of lying. "So Kate, you're accusing me of saying things that I didn't say," he told the presenter. Following the tense on-air clash, Good Morning Britain viewers flocked to Twitter to discuss the 'how awkward' the interview was.

"Not Kate Garraway being a proper bada** and holding Cleverly accountable for being a lying idiot. How awkward for him," one ITV viewer quipped. "Kate vs Cleverly," another joked, while someone else shared: "Nothing I love more than a painful debate about police figures. Garraway won this fight hands down."

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.

Susan Knox