GB News clash erupts as Labour minister humiliated in Starmer row ‘Embarrassing yourself!’

A furious row erupted on GB News as Camilla Tominey and Labour minister Tom Hayes clashed over the latest development in the Peter Mandelson scandal. A recent report by The Guardian claimed Mandelson failed the vetting process in his appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the US and the Foreign Office overruled the decision.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has claimed he was not aware that Mandelson failed the vetting process and said he was “absolutely furious” and it was “staggering” that he had not been informed the Foreign Office had overruled the recommendation from specialists in the UK Security Vetting team. However, questions have remained over whether Starmer was aware beforehand. On GB News, Tominey admitted she was grateful to Hayes for appearing on her show as Liz Kendall had refused.

But things quickly took a turn when Hayes defended the prime minister and instead blamed the “bonkers” vetting system for the latest revelation in the scandal.

He said: “The rules were changed on Friday, and there will be no more overrides of security vetting for a minute.

“The Prime Minister is coming to Parliament on Monday in order to update the House of Commons. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for questions there too.”

Unconvinced, Tominey said the Labour MP he was “stretching the bounds of her credulity” before asking: “Are you seriously suggesting that the former Director of Public prosecutions was so incurious that he carried on parroting this line, without asking any questions of any officials about whether the vetting had actually been successful?”

Hayes continued to staunchly defend the prime minister, insisting Starmer had no idea that Mandelson had failed the vetting process, nor was he aware of the extent of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Hayes added: “If you want to talk about curiosity, I don’t know if you saw the really important breaking news. I don’t think GB News has covered it, which is Richard Tice dodging £100,000 of tax payment.”

Interjecting, Tominey fumed: “This is extraordinary whataboutery! This is absolutely ridiculous, I’m not talking about Richard Tice right now. I’m talking about the prime minister!”

Interrupting Tominey, Hayes argued: “No you’re not, that’s the problem. GB News aren’t talking about Richard Tice.”

Tominey ordered her guest to “park that right now”, raging: “This is extraordinary. I want to talk about the Prime Minister.”

When Hayes questioned why the presenter didn’t want to discuss Tice allegedly avoiding tax, a frustrated Tominey raged: “Are you for real?

“Are you seriously trying to make a story about the prime minister being on the brink, possibly facing either being sacked or resigning next week?”

Hayes interjected once again, saying: “I’m asking GB News to respect its viewers and to cover all stories that they would find interesting.”

As the pair continued speaking over each other, Tominey demanded they “reconstitute” the interview before “you really embarrass yourself!”

“Oh you’re embarrassing yourself too if we’re going down this route,” the politician said.

Making her stance clear, she declared: “I’m going to ask you questions and you’re going to answer them. You’re not asking me the questions because I’m the journalist and you’re the politician.

“Very disturbingly, the Prime Minister knew on Tuesday that Peter Mandelson had failed the vetting and that everything he had said to Parliament and the public, including an exchange with Kemi Badenoch on February 4 and then a press conference in Hastings on February 5 was wrong.

“He did not think to mention this to the House of Commons on Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions. What’s his excuse for that?”

Hayes responded: “If you, as prime minister are not told about the failure in security vetting or the override and then you do find out, what are you going to do? You’re going to wonder what the hell is going on.

“He instructed his cabinet secretary to assemble the facts, and once those facts were assembled, on Monday he is then coming to the House of Commons, and I hope to see you cover it.”

A stunned Tominey claimed his response was an “extraordinary attempt to gaslight me and the British public”.

She added: “He knew on Tuesday that Peter Mandelson had failed the vetting. Why on earth didn’t he think to mention that to the House of Commons, that he’s now accused of misleading, either knowingly or unknowingly?”

Hayes hit back: “He’s coming to the House of Commons on Monday, so let’s get away from these process questions around what he knew when.”

The explosive debate continued, with Tominey remarking: “This is brilliant. You want me to get away from process questions when the Prime Minister’s entire defence to this farrago is ‘we followed the process, due process was followed’. The process, the process, the process.

“Everybody listening and watching this thinks that this is a complete and utter disgrace. Why can’t you take responsibility for the fact that if he isn’t a nave and if he isn’t a fool, then he’s a downright hypocrite because we all remember how he treated Boris Johnson during Partygate?”

Mr Hayes stated: “I think there’s a huge difference between the prime minister being denied the information he needs and Boris Johnson, whose staff has partied in Downing Street with suitcases of booze during the pandemic, with the Queen sitting silently and alone in a pew mourning her husband of many decades.

“Any attempt to draw a false equivalence on this station is disrespectful to your viewers, and I think you know in your heart that what you’re saying there isn’t equivalent, but you’re pushing it out because, frankly, it will get the clicks.

“And as a consequence of getting the clicks, it will help you to get more attention.”

Concluding their conversation, Tominey said: “After this interview I don’t think I need to be helping anybody get any clicks, because your response to what has been going on in the last 48 hours is absolutely astounding.”