Susanna Reid has slammed Boris Johnson for coming across like a "disappointed parent" over racism shown towards England football players.
The Good Morning Britain presenter joined co-host Richard Madeley in sharing their disappointment in the messaging of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the racist abuse faced online by England football players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho following the team's defeat by Italy in the EUFA Euros 2020 final on Sunday night.
Boris Johnson tweeted on Monday morning: "This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.
"Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves."
However, presenters Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid felt that the Prime Minister did not go far enough in his condemnation of the racist trolls on social media as they discussed his tweet on Monday morning's show.
"I wish he'd call for prosecutions, it's not enough just to condemn it," said Richard, recalling his own earlier comments from the show.
Susanna went further, saying: "I was going to say, he sounds like a slightly disappointed parent. I mean for goodness sake, it's got to be a bit more than 'You should be ashamed of yourself".
Richard went on to describe the abused players as "heroes" as both presenters condemned the abuse.
Earlier in the programme, Richard had called for the social media trolls to be tracked and ultimately prosecuted for their disgusting treatment of players.
"I do think personally, we’ve had enough of this racism. It’s not enough to too call this disgusting," said Richard.
"We have to track these people down and it’s possible through IP addresses."
He continued: “We need to spend some money and some time and some officers to get these guys and to, bring them to court and to lock them away because it is not representative of this country.
“It is a disgusting distortion of what this country now is today. Didn’t use to be, but now we are a properly diverse, wonderful country to live in.
“These people that are sending these messages are breaking the law, they’re breaking a profound moral code and they need to be dragged by the scruff of the neck into the dock."
The England team posted on Twitter following the abuse online: “We’re disgusted that some of our squad – who have given everything for the shirt this summer – have been subjected to discriminatory abuse online after tonight’s game.
“We stand with our players [red heart emoji]”.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police have also tweeted: "We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final.
"This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated."
*Good Morning Britain airs on weekdays from 6am to 9am on ITV, with previous episodes available to watch on catch-up on ITV Hub.
