Nigel Farage Cuts Off Ex-BBC Producer Who Backs Ofcom Ruling On GB News Impartiality Violations

GB News host Nigel Farage kicked former BBC current affairs producer John Mair off-air after growing irritated at his stance on Ofcom’s Monday ruling that the channel had breached impartiality rules during a Q&A with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in February.

Ofcom’s ruling came after 547 complaints about the show. The watchdog is considering issuing sanctions against GB News.

Farage began by defending the show in question. He said: “We’ve made some mistakes. Hands up. And we admit that. I cannot for the life of me see what was wrong with that event with Rishi Sunak.”

Mair, however, criticised GB News from the outset, comparing it to a football game where the channel played by different rules.

“You’ve been on Ofcom’s naughty step for a couple of years now,” he said. “You’ve fallen off the naughty step… You’ve been invited to play a football game, and you come in, you’ve played rugby, and you start to tackle people. And then you say, ‘Oh, no, it’s the referee’s fault.’”

Farage pressed Mair on what exactly was wrong with the forum. Mair responded by questioning if other party leaders had been given the same opportunity: “Have you had a People’s Forum for [Labour leader] Keir Starmer? Have you had one for the Lib Dems? Have you had one for Reform?”

Farage replied: “Yes, they’re all invited. They’re all invited.”

The guest pushed back: “Have you had them yet, though?”

The host replied: “No, the Prime Minister was the first. They are all invited to come and do exactly the same format, and I would have thought it was a very good, fair, open format with a genuinely neutral audience.”

Mair added: “Where is the impartiality? What is due impartiality?”

Speaking to his producers Farage decided to cut the interview short: “I’m afraid we’re going to have to kill that, guys.”

Mair continued: “Look, I helped invent Question Time, if I’d put that programme, I’d be fired.”

“Would you?” Farage shot back.

“The producer of that programme should be fired,” Mair managed to say before he was cut from the screen.

Laughing awkwardly, Farage offered a cheap dig telling Mair, who was unable to respond, to “enjoy” his BBC pension before steering away to discuss dentists and the NHS.