Ranvir Singh has revealed she was urged to quit Good Morning Britain after receiving “hate” for her on-air remarks about last weekend’s Unite the Kingdom march.
During Monday’s show, the 47-year-old broadcaster explained that the scale and tone of Saturday’s far-right rally made her reconsider her plans to travel with her son.
“It actually made me sad, because I think, I should be allowed to go into London and feel safe. You know, I live here, it's my place,” she told viewers. “But I didn't, I didn't take my son in - that made me sad.
“You know, the fact that you think, 'oh, it's not safe for my little brown boy to be in London' is a sad thing. But there you go, pragmatic.”
Singh went on to describe an encounter at her local station before the protest that highlighted the need for dialogue across political divides.
While waiting for a coffee, she struck up a conversation with the man ahead of her - “a white guy, very friendly”, she recalled, who told her he was heading to the Tommy Robinson march.
She shared: “He said, ‘I'm just, I'm curious. I'm curious to know how fascist these people really are. And my brother's a bit more far right. And I'm keeping an eye on him today'. He said, you know, I' don't know how the protest is going to go. The last one I went on was to remain during Brexit’.”
Although she admitted that anyone supporting Robinson “makes me deeply uncomfortable”, Singh stressed the importance of “feeling the pinch and still have a conversation with someone.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that at least 25 people were arrested and 26 officers injured, four seriously during Saturday’s demonstration.
However on Tuesday, Singh said she had since received a torrent of messages after sharing her viewpoint on the ITV morning stalwart.
“You've received a lot of feedback on that,” presenter Susanna Reid began, to which Singh agreed.
Singh explained: “A lot of reaction, 50/50 I'd say. 50% lots of hate directed at me, wanting me to resign and things like that. It's what happens when you speak out on anything like that.
"But half of people saying thank you for saying what you said because it resonated. And I just want to mention somebody called Wendy who's DM'd me and is reflective of the vast majority in the middle, and I massively appreciate her getting in touch.”
Reading out the viewer’s message, the broadcaster began: “Saw you on the TV, you were talking about the march that happened on Saturday. I'm sorry that you felt like you couldn't do what you wanted to do that day. Me and my husband went to the March on Saturday.
“We just wanted to say that we are not racists or far-right. We're just a normal couple that live in West Sussex with our 21 year old. We do not follow Tommy Robinson but he was the one who organised the march. If it was organised by someone else we still would have gone.
“People have got to the point where we're not happy with the country the way it is or the way it's going. Yes, we're not happy about people coming over in boats but they could be coming from Norwegian countries and we still would have a problem with it.”
After reading the GMB viewer’s message, Singh shared that was the conversation she was “trying to have” on the show.
Adding: “There's a lot of people who are just feeling frustrated. It's difficult for someone like me to speak up on controversial subjects because you do get a lot of hate. But it's worth doing it when 100s of people have got in touch.
“A lot of the hate towards me was saying that it was a far-right rally, but that's what we're describing it as it's the biggest far-right rally that's been organised by the UK in our living memory.
“The idea that a lot of people hate the fact that it's been called a far-right rally is not my problem,” she continued. “That's exactly the point I was making, that lots of people feel to go to things like that and follow people they might not really agree with because they don't know where else to go with there concerns.”
Her comments came as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer condemned the use of the Union flag “as a symbol of violence, fear and division” after the weekend’s far-right rally, which drew an estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people.
