'I’m Labour to my backbone and I'm bemused by Ofcom's ruling. I admire GB News,' says Stephen Pound

Apparently, this constituted the provision of a party-political platform and – bizarrely – the accusation is that GB News has somehow morphed into a mouthpiece of the Conservative Party.

Anyone who has spent five minutes watching GB News will tell you that not only is it not a platform for the Conservatives but that it has no party allegiance at all and can be pretty brutal to politicians of every party and delights in shining a spotlight into the darker recesses of the political world.

Full disclosure here: I appear on the station as often as they will have me and no one in a hundred years could ever accuse me of being anything other than a dyed-in-the-wool Labour man.

I served in Parliament with Gloria De Piero, who is also Labour to her backbone and presents her programme on GB News.

One of the things that we both like and admire about the channel is that it is utterly fearless in its opinions and actually relishes the opportunity to hear every side of the debate.

I get challenged on my political views and the tackles can come in very hard but I don’t have a problem with that.

If GB News really was the hard right echo chamber that some would claim it to be then there would be none of the freewheeling iconoclasm that its increasing numbers of viewers and listeners find so refreshing.

In a world of beige where the bland rules and the desperate urge to avoid giving a smidgen of offence results in an anodyne vanilla commentariat that may not give offence but does not challenge nor stimulate.

A high court Judge recently stated that the freedom to speak only without giving offence was actually no freedom at all and I admit that sometimes GB News can give offence but that is surely just an aspect of a full, free and open debate.

No-one at the station would ever suggest that the civilised norms should not apply and would never descend to the libellous or slanderous. Offence does not imply the licence to abuse or insult.

Should free speech be so emasculated as to make any meaningful discourse impossible then the dark and foetid corners of the web would be the gainers and prejudices would flourish in the dank cellars if not brought into the daylight for examination, consideration, correction, and challenge.

There are examples aplenty of nations and states where the freedom to express your views is severely curtailed.

We have a name for such societies and it should come as no surprise that the first action of the dictator is usually to close down the previously free media.

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I think that we are better than that in this country and we have a tradition of refusing to show unquestioning obedience to our political leaders.

Satire is as old as the printing press and free speech existed long before that.

GB News is something new and will have its detractors as well as its admirers.

I would seriously suggest that anyone who feels that the station is in the pocket of any vested interest or ideology should come along and do the right thing – debate the issues freely and fairly before anyone who tunes in.

To seek to silence what is a beacon of freedom of expression says far more about the forces allied against GB News than it does about the station.

Why are people afraid of the sunlight?