Carol Vorderman praised TV writer John O’Farrell over his "superb" confrontation of Laura Kuenssberg.
The confrontation took place on the latest edition of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg when the host quizzed the writer on how well the Labour Party handled the news of Angela Rayner being under a police investigation. The investigation began after it was claimed the deputy leader of the party failed to provide the correct address on her official paperwork.
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." It was questioned whether Rayner paid the correct amount of tax when she sold her council house, which she bought in Greater Manchester in 2007.
Addressing the story, John, who was a writer on shows including Spitting Image and Have I Got News for You, said: "I think this is such a ridiculous non-story. 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."
He concluded: "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 retaliated: "I think a lot of viewers will think that Greater Manchester Police aren’t exactly a bunch of pussycats who just investigate something because a Tory MP tells them to.”
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Carol shared her support for John's remarks. She wrote: "Author, @haveigotnews writer @mrjohnofarrell was superb on #bbclaurak this morning…..brilliant. Robbie Gibb, the Tory “plant” on the BBC Board, would have hated it. Marvellous."
Another viewer agreed: "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," while someone else said: "Finally Laura and the BBC challenged on this ridiculous pursuit of a non story. I hope this blows up in Conservative faces big time!"
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