Piers Morgan pressurised Lisa Nandy into apologising for comments made by her Labour colleague Kate Green where she referenced the coronavirus pandemic as a ‘good crisis’.
The Labour MP for Wigan was on Good Morning Britain to discuss her party’s position ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that all bars and restaurants are to have a 10pm curfew.
She explained that Labour ‘supports the government when they are following the medical and scientific advice’ - but added that many questions have so far been left unanswered as to the reason for the latest restrictions.
But Piers was more interested in squeezing an apology out of Ms Nandy for Ms Green’s words, which were said at a Labour Connected event on Sunday.
Piers said: “Can I just ask you about comments made by the shadow education secretary Kate Green who said that Labour should not ‘let a good crisis go to waste’.
“She set out a plan to exploit it for the party’s gain.”
Lisa said that Kate is “really upset” about the way her comments “came across”.
“It was not the right way to express it at all,” she said.
She explained that Ms Green was “talking in the context of ten years of cuts to public services including schools”.
She continued: “She was making the point that we have got to make sure that this covid crisis doesn’t worsen that divide and doesn’t write some children off.”
Piers interrupted her to repeat the words that Ms Green used, branding them “pretty offensive”.
“It was absolutely the wrong way to express that,” Ms Nandy replied. “Kate knows that.”
Piers cut in again to ask whether Ms Green had apologised yet.
“I am sure she will apologise if she hasn’t already,” she said.
“Let me apologise for the way that has come across. Nobody thinks that there is anything good about this crisis.”
Piers asked her to clarify that on behalf of the party she was sorry for those remarks.
“Genuinely very sorry for the way they came across,” she replied. “That was not what was intended.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
