Carol Vorderman praised writer John O’Farrell for his’superb’ confrontation with Laura Kuenssberg on her BBC programme.
Several guests joined the journalist on the latest episode of her show to discuss some of the most recent headlines in the news.
One of them was about Angela Rayner being investigated by the police after it was claimed that the Labour Party’s deputy leader did not provide her correct address on official paperwork.
It has been questioned whether the politician paid the correct amount of tax when she sold her council house ahead of the 2015 general election, which she originally purchased in Greater Manchester in 2007.
A Labour spokesperson said: ‘Angela welcomes the chance to set out the facts with the police. We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it’s now appropriate to let the police do its work.’
On the latest broadcast of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the host turned to Labour Party member John to ask what he thought about the situation, and how the Labour Party has handled it.
‘I think this is such a ridiculous non-story,’ responded John, who was a writer on TV shows including Spitting Image and Have I Got News for You.
‘And when we’re sitting here and we’ve got war in Ukraine, war in the Middle East and we’re talking about something that happened that long ago, something that the police could only prosecute within the first year after it happening. This was in the FT yesterday, that if the police were going to take any action about these alleged financial misdemeanours, that would have had to have been in the first year.
‘So everyone in Manchester right now, I hope all the crimes that you’ve endured have been sorted, because Manchester Police are spending time on this.’
John then remarked to the BBC presenter: ‘And Laura, I have to say, for you as a broadcaster, for the BBC here to keep spending time on this, and to have Yvette Cooper sit here and come and talk about violence against women and girls, and that to take second place to this bit of gossip.’
Laura responded by saying she doesn’t think viewers would think of the Greater Manchester Police force as a ‘bunch of pussycats’, before turning to Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith for his opinion.
‘I hate all this personal attack stuff myself. I think it ultimately demeans us. But, it has to be said that Angela Rayner has pursued other people on almost exactly that. She spends a lot of her time calling on people to resign in advance of any investigations.
‘So if you’re going to play that game, then it’s going to come back onto you. I wish we wouldn’t do it constantly in politics. I agree there are many bigger issues to discuss that we won’t get round to. But that reality is the case, that were this to be a Conservative that had done this, I’m certain that Angela Rayner would have been calling for them to resign.’
Over on X, Carol expressed her staunch support for what John had to say.
‘Author, @haveigotnews writer @mrjohnofarrell was superb on #bbclaurak this morning…..brilliant,’ she said.
‘Robbie Gibb, the Tory “plant” on the BBC Board, would have hated it. Marvellous. 👍🏼.’
Another X user called Ian wrote: ‘Her face was a picture she couldn’t shut him up quickly enough trying to talk over him. About time someone spoke out about the “gossip” and said there are real issues to talk about – good for him.’
Elizabeth added: ‘Finally Laura and the BBC challenged on this ridiculous pursuit of a non story. I hope this blows up in Conservative faces big time!’
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg airs on Sundays at 9am on BBC One and is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.