GB News star Nigel Farage was embroiled in a tense clash with Jo Phillips as he defended an “entirely fair” question asked in the wake of the Southport killings last week.
A crazed knife attack which saw the deaths of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class has triggered riots across the country, the first coming in the location of where the horror incident took place, Southport.
In a video posted to social media, Nigel questioned whether police were withholding information about who was responsible for the murders.
It came at a time when false information was circulating that a Muslim asylum seeker was responsible.
Phillips made it clear that she felt Farage was wrong to do so as the pair came to blows on the matter.
“If you believe in Parliamentary democracy, why didn’t you ask the question that you asked on Twitter [X] in Parliament?”, she said.
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Jo Phillips questioned Farage's comments
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“The inquest opened today about the three girls who died in Southport. If the person who had done that had been white or the girls had been Asian, would you have gone online and asked the same question?”
Farage explained: “When Parliament debated it, it was an expression of sorrow. Not a political conversation.
“When the London Bridge attack happened, within an hour we found out the suspect had been on a police list.
“Over a week ago, there was all sorts of nonsense going about on the internet which had it been slapped down, I think the Southport riots would not have been as bad.
Protestors stand off with police in Southport Getty“I asked the one question which would have slapped it down. And do you know what? I still haven’t got an answer.”
Phillips responded: “You didn’t say ‘this is untrue’” - a comment Nigel responded to by insisting he “ignored” the conspiracies that were put forward online.
“I think the silence made what happened in Southport worse”, he added.
Asked if he should have asked the question in Parliament as opposed to online, the Reform MP insisted he “did not have the means” to do so.
“If I got up and asked a question like that at a time of political sorrow, it would have looked appalling.”