The Good Morning Britain host angered a swathe of viewers with her latest comments.
Kate Garraway has gone too far this time (Image: ITV)
Kate Garraway might have just hammered the final nail in her morning TV coffin after making some downright disgraceful remarks about the St George’s flag. The Good Morning Britain host was interrogating Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf on whether the Union flag should be displayed in schools when she fumed it had been “hijacked by the far right”.
On the programme, Kate said: “We know that these flags have been hijacked by the extreme right. We know that you use the Union flag quite a lot, and some people might feel concerned about some elements of your party. So why do you feel the flag is a good way to start this re-patriotisation?” and Yusuf clapped back that the “frame of her question strikes up the very heart of the problem.”
That this whole ITV exchange happened on St George’s Day, of all days, leaves me with a sour taste. Kate doubled down on her comments, insisting that the flag “is divisive” and that “people do think that”.
Yusuf responded: “The point I am making is that to the degree some people do feel that way, it is because we are not celebrating our flag. To the degree that is happening, then it is incumbent on the vast, vast, vast majority of British people in this country who celebrate our flag and put it in the places it belongs, like our schools.”
Kate’s not exactly wrong – the flag is a topic of contention at the moment, after it was associated with a spate of anti-immigration protests up and down the country last year. But to slam the symbol of our country on a day that is intended to celebrate it is one of the riskiest moves I’ve ever seen Kate make live on-air, and she’s left fans fuming.
One viewer tweeted in anger: “Why is it ALWAYS the England flag they go after? Every single St George’s Day, the same pathetic script.
She’s not wrong – the flag is divisive. But this move puts her at risk (Image: Getty)
“They never scream ‘far right’ when Paddy’s Day hits and Irish flags are flying everywhere across the UK and Ireland, parades, shamrocks, the full works, zero accusations of extremism. Same with the Welsh dragon or Scottish saltire. Only England gets this relentless smear.”
Users fumed that Kate herself is “stoking division” by “encouraging open borders” – and said “you’re not defending Britain, you’re erasing it.”
The programme has been branded “biased” for a while now, with Ed Balls interviewing his Labour minister wife Yvette Cooper and the hosts seemingly unfairly targeting Reform while letting Conservative MPs get away with a lot more.
Another angry viewer argued: “Kate Garraway can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine, there is nothing wrong with being patriotic and it is only the British people who are told they cannot fly their flag and it is extremism if they do.”
And from some perspectives, it does look like English people are unfairly targeted when it comes to flag rows. St Patrick’s Day is seen as more of a celebration than anything else, while St George’s Day stokes the fires of controversy over and over again.
I do fear that the reaction Kate has garnered from the public after her latest move puts the whole of GMB at risk – and especially her part in it.