Margaret Thatcher’s former aide shut down calls for a King Charles apology for Britain’s wrongdoing in the past.
It comes as the monarch refused to issue an apology during his highly-anticipated speech at the State Banquet in Kenya.
The King did address Britain’s treatment of Kenyans during the Mau Mau uprising, branding it “abhorrent”.
Gardiner came up against journalist Nina Myskow on GB News in a tense edition of The Clash, where the latter was calling on Britain to “own” its past wrongdoings.
Asked about the Foreign Office paying £20m for the colonial violence, Gardiner branded the decision a “moment of weakness”.
Myskow snapped back, saying: “Oh for heaven’s sake. Why will you not admit the facts?
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“At least 10,000 were killed, thousands more were beaten.”
Gardiner responded: “It’s political, it’s outrageous and it’s extortionate. I don’t think we have anything to apologise for.”
“I think you are deluded”, Myskow said. “I think you should read your history books.”
Gardiner hit back: “I have read a lot of history. I hope you have, obviously you haven’t.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are visiting Kenya on a royal state visitReuters“We defeated terrorism. We should be proud of that. You seem to be living in a parallel universe.”
Myskow responded by calling on Gardiner to “get his facts right”.
74-year-old Charles had faced calls from activists for an apology for Britain’s past in Kenya, but he opted against using the word “sorry”.
The King said: “It is the intimacy of our shared history that has brought our people together.
“However, we must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship.
“The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret.
"There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty – and for that, there can be no excuse.
“In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected.”
In 2013, Britain expressed “regret” for their actions during the Mau Mau uprising and settled a High Court case, paying £19.9 million in damages and legal costs.
The costs were spread amongst 5,228 elderly victims of torture and repression.
