Eamonn Holmes was forced to intervene after GB News guests Rafe Heydel-Mankoo and Imarn Ayton found themselves at loggerheads over calls for a royal apology ahead of King Charles' state visit to Kenya.
Buckingham Palace has said the King with acknowledge the "painful aspects" of Britain's historical ties with the African nation but that he wouldn't apologise for its colonial history.
Ayton argued it was time a member of the Royal Family should apologise after "inheriting" the royal rights and the history of Britain, while Heydel-Mankoo felt addressing the history was enough.
Kicking off the debate, Eamonn asked Ayton why King Charles should apologise, to which she replied: "Many reasons. We have to make amends, right? Rafe, I'm hoping you're in agreement with that..."
Ayton argued that as long as King Charles "claims the royal rights" of his ancestors, then "by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility of their crimes".
"If you inherit something, you have to take the good, the bad and the ugly... anything less than that is hypocritical," she argued.
Isabel pointed out the King had acknowledged the hurt but to say sorry would mean "payments would have to be made", which led Ayton to sarcastically respond: "I'm so glad you said that! That is very true, I will concede on that point.
Heydel-Mankoo and Ayton clashed over King Charles visit to Kenya
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"So an apology basically means an admission of guilt, which means an admission of liability which opens the floodgates for reparations which in turn basically leads to the UK going bankrupt, of course.
"And all of us here in the studio becoming refugees and heading to France on small boats, so I appreciate the fact that if we open the floodgates for reparations it could cause havoc, I appreciate that point."
Heydel-Mankoo interjected as he outlined his stance: "I'm a lot more sympathetic towards this issue than, for example, the ludicrous debates we have about slavery which was 200 years ago and Britain has a proud legacy of abolishing the slave trade.
"This actually is one of the most shameful moments in British imperial history, what happened in Kenya in the 1950s... the British did overreact in its suppression of the Mau Mau uprising so I think it's right that the King should actually express regret and sorrow as he is without apologising."
Heydel-Mankoo went on to point out that the British were responding to the savagery of the Mau Mau themselves, however, as he highlighted "no one's been held to account from the Mau Mau side" and there hasn't been an apology either.
Eamonn Holmes tried to bring calm to the debate
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Ayton weighed in to agree with the fact that Britain is often the one who's picked on to apologise rather than others and pointed the blame on the British education system.
"We've got the British education system that starts everything from slavery, we've got that the British Empire made sure they named Black people with their surnames - all of these things can be traced back and of course, we have the evidence," she said as she explained why Britain should be the ones to take on the brunt of such arguments.
Hitting back, Heydel-Mankoo claimed Kenya became the "success story of Africa" due to its tie with the Commonwealth: "Its parliamentary democracy, its constitutional separation of power, its British-based military, civil services and police - all of the institutions.
"And for 45 years thanks to the British heritage and the leadership of President Kenyatta, Kenya became a showpiece - the last 15 years haven't been that good - but Kenya is still one of the top."
The pair then locked horns when Ayton raised an issue with Heydel-Mankoo's pronunciation of Kenya, which prompted Eamonn to try and calm the row boiling over between the two.
Eamonn eventually managed to get his point across as he turned to Ayton and highlighted that both of the arguments mean it "wouldn't be easy" for Charles to simply apologise.
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GB News hosts Isabel and Eamonn conducted the debate
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Ayton conceded it is incredibly "convoluted" before turning her attention to one of Heydel-Mankoo's suggestions that Kenya is thriving as she argued: "In terms of benefits, you cannot say that Black people benefit from colonialism and slavery.
"Let's just be clear, by the same token you're saying that Jews and Hitler benefitted due to the Holocaust, you're basically saying that in terms of your basic argument."
Heydel-Mankoo refuted the point: "That's an extremist Marxist view just been put forward, you certainly sound like one!"
He doubled down on his stance that Kenya has indeed benefitted from its colonial ties with the UK as he highlighted the monetary investment both Britain and Canada funneled into Kenya last year.
"The top three countries in Africa for $1 million investments are Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya and what's the common link? All former British colonies," he argued.
Ayton interrupted: "So you're basically saying we should all be okay with being oppressed, enslaved, and colonised, that's what you're basically saying?!"
But before Heydel-Mankoo could respond, Eamonn attempted to bring calm back to the studio as he cut in: "We're out of time, I don't know what way to say it, let's blow the whistle! There's so much more we could be talking about and so much more we can say."
