This Morning has come under fire for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield interview with Jeremy Hunt. The duo were among the first to get to speak to the Chancellor after he unveiled his Spring Budget as he appeared live on the ITV daytime show on Thursday (March 16).
Mr Hunt was in the House of Commons on Wednesday (March 15) as he unveiled the contents of his first Budget which focussed on prompting those who have left their jobs to return to the workforce, and boosting business investment. As well as talking about what he announced, he was also quizzed live on the famous sofa on other matters such as the NHS strikes.
Talking live in the studio following his decisions regarding energy bills and childcare, Mr Hunt said: "There’s always a bit of a pantomime element to exchanges in parliament but what I was really saying is that in the short time I’ve been Chancellor, I’ve become very optimistic about our future as a country and if you look at the industries that are changing our lives, like technology and the internet, in the last decade we have become the third biggest tech economy in the world to China and America…"
To which Phillip interjected and said: "Nevertheless, yesterday was a massive strike day…NHS, childcare… these are the things people want to talk about." Mr Hunt replied: "Absolutely and what I wanted to say to people yesterday was that there are lots of challenges, we’ve just had a once-in-a-century pandemic, we have a terrible energy crisis caused by Putin and Ukraine but actually there’s a way through this.
"I’m responsible for the economy as chancellor and businesses up and down the country are really struggling to recruit people now - a million vacancies - and I said let’s break down the barrier that stops people from working and there are lots of those. I was thinking about mums and dads who really want to work, who find that childcare is just so expensive and they end up staying at home."
Toward the end of the interview, Mr Hunt was asked if he’s been asked to remove Tik Tok after cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden announced the app had been banned from government phones after a security review. Ministers and officials will, however, still be able to use the Chinese-owned app on their personal phones.
In response to the question, Mr Hunt smiled and said: "I actually took Tik Tok off my phone a while ago. Was I told to? No, I decided to do it. It was difficult to take it off because it’s so addictive and some of those videos are very clever but we have to think about security concerns."
He then revealed what his children thought about their first time watching their father delivering the budget, saying: "My daughter said, 'Daddy, it was a pantomime wasn’t it?'" But following his appearance on the show, This Morning viewers were rushing to social media where they criticised Holly and Phillip's 'gentle' interviewing of the Chancellor.
@NigelTymm fumed: "Grotesque 'cuddly' 'gentle' interview of @Jeremy_Hunt on @ITV's #ThisMorning How is a chancellor of the exchequer running a marathon in order to "raise money for my local hospital" ? How about Hunt just funds the NHS instead?"
@kathy1239713555 tweeted: "Ffs Chancellor Hunt doing a hard hitting interview with Holly & Phil #thismorning," alongside a sick face emoji. @Kevz121uk added: "So #ThisMorning, what did we learn from @Jeremy_Hunt today? How were the viewing figures? How's the interviewer training program going?"
However, @PollyCracker92 praised Phillip and tweeted: "Phil is actually being useful here #ThisMorning," while another slammed the Chancellor for avoiding the presenters' questions as @mrscarter22 said: "@Jeremy_Hunt That wasn't the question asked by @thismorning Answer the question please. What makes you be the Chancellor to be trusted? #ThisMorning."
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