Alastair Campbell has been urged to apologise by Alex Phillips over a live TV “meltdown”.
The former Labour strategist clashed with the ex-Brexit Party MEP during a fiery edition of BBC’s Newsnight in which he displayed “horrifying” behaviour, according to Phillips.
Campbell questioned host Victoria Derbyshire over the programme’s decision to bring Phillips on the show in the first place, accusing the Reform Party adviser of “talking utter rubbish” on the subject of Brexit.
Alex Phillips believes Campbell owes her an apology over the matter, but accepts that it “wouldn’t mean much” at this stage.
Alastair Campbell was embroiled in a fiery row with Alex Phillips
BBC
Speaking on GB News, she said: “I think he probably should [apologise].
“I thought to myself last night, ‘he’s going to wake up tomorrow and think perhaps this wasn’t the best way to conduct an interview’, instead, he apologised to Victoria Derbyshire and seemed to spend most of the night Googling me and decide he wanted to double down on me and stir up some sort of Twitter pile-in.
“He clearly doesn’t show or feel any remorse so I don’t think an apology is worth much.”
During the tense confrontation, Campbell accused Phillips of “talking such rubbish when you come on these programmes”, to which she replied “that is just unnecessarily rude”.
Alex Phillips has called for an apology from Alastair Campbell
GB News
Phillips went on to suggest that the current Government do not have the “courage or conviction” to reap the possible benefits of Brexit.
Campbell replied: “Will any of these people who fought so hard for Brexit ever face up to their own responsibility and face the fact that what they all promised was a pack of lies?”
The ex-Brexit Party MEP suggested the animosity did not end backstage, contributing to a “horrifying” experience overall.
Speaking to Patrick Christys, she said: “It clearly was intimidating and bullying. What that clip doesn’t show is quite how aggressive he was being in the moment, it was really quite upsetting.
“When the camera went off, he was trying to yank his microphone and trying to storm out of the studio.
“My animal instincts kicked in and the hairs on the back of my neck began to stick up, it was quite frightening. When I left the studio, I wanted to get out as quickly as possible.
“He then came storming up behind me and production staff were quick to whisk me away and apologise, they were quite horrified by his behaviour.”
Campbell confirmed after the show on Twitter that he had apologised to host Victoria Derbyshire, saying she is “one of the best”.