Tom Harwood had stern words for Laurence Fox
(Picture: @GB News/ Twitter)GB News journalist Tom Harwood has ripped into Laurence Fox over his views on vaccines and the confrontation has well and truly ruffled viewers.
In an interview about vaccine passports with the former actor turned ‘politician’, Harwood suggested Fox was creating problems by pushing his anti-vaxx views and told him he should tell his “legions of followers” to get the jab instead.
He said: “You’ve used the word vaccine in a quote as if this isn’t the real vaccine; you’ve said that these haven’t passed their trials and they have passed their phase three clinical trials.
“You’ve said that young people shouldn’t get the vaccine when really we know that in order to reach herd immunity young people have to get this vaccine.
“Aren’t you part of the problem here?”
Fox claimed Harwood was parroting government lines and claimed the government was creating “disproportionate” fear about the risk the virus poses to young people. He also tried to make a joke, bless him, and said: “Should I get a Tom Harwood tweet approval passport as well, would that help?” (Which, interestingly, Fox’s Reclaim Party saw as him “hitting back”...)
Harwood added: “There is a real genuine problem when people with large followings tweet out to many many people that they shouldn’t get this vaccine.
“You know the hell this country’s been through for the last year and a half – the way out is the vaccine and potentially it would be a good thing if you were to tell your legion of followers to actually get the jab, not to coerce them, not to force them, but to say that it’s a good thing to actually get vaccinated.”
Good point, well made. But some people were angry with Harwood for not being against vaccines and showed their support for Fox, which is perhaps unsurprising given the more controversial stance GB News has taken on other issues (like taking the knee):
I don't agree with Tom Harwood.
— Terry Aston 🏴🌸 (@tesa1945) July 29, 2021
I seldom do.
He has spent too much time with government and has become one of them.
What happened to freedom of choice?
I suppose it's only Harwood that has the freedom to choose for each one of us?
He would be more at home at the BBC.
Maybe the expert that is Tom Harwood could give us all what no other expert or Government minister can or will, would he kindly list the long term side effects of the vaccine. Surley being so pro vaccine he has researched this and has the information to hand.
— Jeff Williams (@scooterjw) July 29, 2021
Oh dear… @GBNEWS is as bad as all the rest… sell the fear, no talk of natural immunity just trying to push the fear narrative ! Tell everyone to get vaccinated when there is very little risk to your life from Covid. You have more chance of dying from the vaccine… https://t.co/UrCuZzs1OU
— KJ (@karlozjay) July 29, 2021
I'm with @LozzaFox on this one all the way.
— ⚒Steve Brooker⚒ #GSBOUT (@Hammer_Brooker) July 29, 2021
I had high hopes for @GBNEWS because it was started by @afneil, I thought it would air both sides of the argument. It's been pushing the Covid scam including Hudson pushing vaccinating children and today pushing the climate change conspiracy with no dissenting voices.
— David Linsdell (@Linsa119) July 29, 2021
Meanwhile, other viewers felt upset that they actually agreed with Harwood, who supported Brexit and has supported Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party:
Well done Tom. It's that time, once a year, when I nod along to pretty much everything you're saying. Please don't make a habit of it.
— Otto English (@Otto_English) July 29, 2021
Delicious to watch the right wing commentators eating each other. Tom Harwood making me question my sanity (because I agree with him on something) and showing that Laurence Fox is, unsurprisingly, an utter dickhead. Bet the GB News viewers didn’t enjoy that. #gbnews #GBNewsfails https://t.co/KU0oXjwV02
— The London Lawyer (@TheLondonLawye1) July 29, 2021
And others enjoyed the backlash Harwood was getting and laughed about him being deemed too ‘woke’ for GB News:
Tom Harwood being cancelled because he isn't right wing enough for the right wing.
— Stone Scriber 🏴 🏳️🌈 🇪🇺 (@StoneScriber) July 29, 2021
Delicious to watch the right wing commentators eating each other. Tom Harwood making me question my sanity (because I agree with him on something) and showing that Laurence Fox is, unsurprisingly, an utter dickhead. Bet the GB News viewers didn’t enjoy that. #gbnews #GBNewsfails https://t.co/KU0oXjwV02
— The London Lawyer (@TheLondonLawye1) July 29, 2021
Quite amused to see that even Tom Harwood is proving to be too woke for the GBNews audience.
— Alex Walters (@MikeWalters60) July 29, 2021
Maybe GB News does have a purpose after all. Fun watching online fash turn on Tom Harwood.
— Gwid🚩🥀 (@GaryMcd90743047) July 29, 2021
Fox and his Reclaim Party, though, saw the interview as a success and made the same joke again:
Well that got a bit spicy! I was invited on to talk about #VaccinePassports, which, in my view, are discriminatory and fundamentally alter the relationship between the citizen and the state, and ended up needing a @tomhfh tweet approval passport aswell, which was unexpected! https://t.co/yMGCsKgMsr
— Laurence Fox ✌🏼🇬🇧✌🏼 (@LozzaFox) July 29, 2021
🚨🚨🚨 @LozzaFox hits back at Tom Harwood over vaccine passports on @GBNEWS!
— The Reclaim Party (@thereclaimparty) July 29, 2021
“Should I get a Tom Harwood tweet approval passport as well? Would that help?... I will have my team run my next set of tweets past you, Tom, and you can exercise my freedom of speech for me.” pic.twitter.com/4PqpVPZ2tO
To us, it’s game set and match to Harwood.
