GMB's Richard Madeley cuts interview short as fans fume 'what was the point'

On Monday's edition of Good Morning Britain, Richard Madeley had to abruptly end an interview with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

During the latest instalment, Madeley, 68, and co-host Susanna Reid spoke to the Chancellor, 45, about the public outrage over the Labour party donations row, labelling it the 'freebies row' on the show.

However, the interview overran, leading Madeley to interrupt Reeves as the programme needed to switch to the Lorraine studio for its 9am start.

In one of the final moments, Reid asked: "Finally, you've said that you no longer now that you're in government, you'll no longer accept freebies. So was the Prime Minister wrong then to accept the donation from the Premier League of tickets worth £4,000 for the Taylor Swift concert?"

Reeves responded: "I said I would no longer take donations for clothes. I don't begrudge the Ministers or Shadow Ministers for going to football matches or pop concerts Keir [Starmer] is a massive Arsenal supporter," but Reid interjected: "I asked about a Taylor Swift concert", prompting Madeley to emphasise: "It was a Taylor Swift concert!", reports the Mirror.

Reeves replied: "You asked about football as well", to which Reid clarified: "No, the gift was from the Premier League for the Taylor Swift concert!" with Reeves then concluding: "Okay, I don't begrudge Ministers or Shadow Ministers from going to pop concerts and taking hospitality gifts as long as it's properly declared. I don't have a problem with that!"

This prompted Madeley to respond: "Well, you may not begrudge it but I can tell you, the voters do. You don't seem to be in step with public opinion on this at all. But thank you very much for joining us!" Reeves tried to respond with "I understand" but Madeley quickly ended the conversation, saying: "I'm so sorry, we're out of time but thank you for being with us this morning" as GMB transitioned to Lorraine.

Viewers were quick to share their thoughts over the interview on Twitter, now X, as some fans fumed 'what was the point' as the entire chat centred around the public outrage over the Labour party donations row. Meanwhile, others branded it one of the 'worst' television interviews they had seen.

One person said: "That was possibly the biggest car crash of an interview I’ve ever seen from #RachelReeves on #GMB", a different account put: "What was the point of that interview. Wasted time on one line of questioning absolutely pointless #GMB" while another said: "Well I’m no defender of the Rachel Reeves but she really didn’t need to appear on your show this morning. Richard Madley and Susanah Reid just ranted at her instead of letting her speak #gmb."

Elsewhere, a different viewer put: "Susanna and Richard spent over 5 minutes asking questions in 10 minute interview. Imagine what we could have learned from the chancellor if the questions had been more concise #gmb" while another added: "They just shut Rachel off for Lorraine #GMB."

Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on both ITV and ITV X.