THERE is growing pressure on ITV bosses to axe Ed Balls from hosting Good Morning Britain following his dramatic on air meltdown.
While hosting alongside on Monday morning’s show, Labour’s former shadow chancellor Ed clashed with leader Zack Polanski after taking exception to being described as a “Labour politician”.
Ed Balls and Zack Polanski came to blows on GMB Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
Zack Polanski looked visibly frustrated by the questioning Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
The clip quickly went viral after Zack complained about being interviewed by Ed – who is married to the Labour government’s current foreign secretary .
Now, insiders at have claimed bosses are worried about the backlash from yesterday – as they brace for complaints.
Our source said: “It’s an easy win for politicians on the show to give the impression Ed is being bias towards them because of who he’s married to.
“Ed knows this, but lost his cool yesterday. There have been whispers behind the scenes about how it makes the programme look, but that’s been going on since he interviewed his own wife.
Ed with his wife Yvette Cooper Credit: Getty
“It’s clear there is growing pressure to distance Ed from the show but bosses keep backing him. They hope the backlash from yesterday calms down.”
The confrontation led to a barrage of memes being shared online, showing Ed’s angry reaction to being called out – and now there’s fears of Ofcom complaints.
It’s after we revealed following a long list of embarrassing gaffes including accusations of antisemitism, which forced the programme to issue an apology.
Zack has been reposting messages on X about the car crash interview – and even appeared to call a “bully”.
One said: “Ed Balls and really did come across like a couple of classroom bullies this morning They did an excellent job of proving Zack Polanski to be the only adult in the room.”
Another said: “I wonder if the GMB producers read the comments under these videos on social media. They only seem to be going one way.
“Maybe the charismatic ace journalist Ed Balls doesn’t cut it with the British public the way they imagine?!”
The argument was sparked after Zack brought up Ed’s connections with the while being grilled about plans to abolish the borders.
He said: “Do you know what I’m enjoying? The fact that a Labour politician who’s married to a senior Labour minister is allowed to ask questions of a leader of a Green Party.”
“Are you accusing me of being a Labour politician?”, asked Ed.
“I’m accusing you… Well, it’s not even an accusation.
“We are planning to replace the Labour Party and take the fight to Reform, but what you’re asking me right now…”
He was interrupted by Ed who said: “You said I was a Labour politician. Did you mean that or not?
“I haven’t been a Labour minister for 20 years. Unfortunately, Mr Planski, I lost my seat in 2015 and I’ve not been a Labour politician for 10 years.
“Luckily, you’re a Green politician, you are the party leader and you seem to be using a rather elaborate device of making accusations against me to avoid answering the questions.”
Later, in a “gotcha” moment from Ed, Zack refused to answer questions about his former job as a hypnotherapist who claimed he could enlarge breasts with his mind.
Zack said: “Your audience will notice that I’m talking about taxing multimillionaires and billionaires, taking wealth away from powerful people and putting it back in our communities, and GMB, 10 days before a local election, rather than asking me about our policies … you want to just do shock-jock tactics.”
Ed interrupted: “Hang on a sec, Mr Polanski. You accused me of being a Labour cabinet minister 16 years ago. And when Susanna asked you about something you said 10 years ago, you said it’s illegitimate to ask about things you stood for 10 years ago.
“The double standard is a bit shocking.”
The tense exchange continued as the Green Party leader said, “Two of those things are not the same.
“Someone pretending to be a journalist who’s interrogating the leader of a political party, having a very strong association with a Labour government who are currently in power, is very different to asking me about a story when I wasn’t a politician 13 years ago.”
Ed came under fire last year after interviewing his own wife on the breakfast show.
Ed has been married to the UK’s Foreign Secretary, , who serves in Sir ‘s government, since 1998.
‘s chief executive defended the interview, but said it would not happen again after more than 16,000 complaints were made to .
He recently had to sit out of the interview when she appeared on the programme to discuss the war.
A GMB spokesman said: “Ed Balls remains a valued member of our presenting team. Any suggestions otherwise are categorically untrue.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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