Richard Madeley raised eyebrows on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday when he compared ISIS teen bride Shamima Begum to a Hitler Youth member.
The 65-year-old broadcaster left co-host Susanna Reid flabbergasted when he mused about the way the allied forces prosecuted the Nazi’s following the end of World War II in 1945.
Richard and 50-year-old Susanna were discussing the case of Shamima Begum who travelled from the UK to Syria when she was 15-years-old to join ISIS in 2014 where she became a jihadist.
Her actions resulted in her having her British citizenship revoked – a decision which was upheld by the Supreme Court in February this year – as she is considered a dangerous terrorist, and she also has Bangladeshi citizenship.
Shamima has been back in the headlines this week as she says she regrets her choice of moving to Syria and hopes to return to the UK.
Her actions have divided public opinion with some saying she should be granted a right to return to the UK, where she was born, while others say she made her bed and should lie in it after becoming part of the terrorist organisation.
Discussing the topic on Good Morning Britain this week, host Richard read out a tweet that had been sent to the GMB team.
He read: “At the age she left, making a mistake is getting a tattoo that you regret, or a one night stand.
“But deliberately joining a terrorist organisation that loathes and hates the country you come from and all the effort involved in getting there seems to tell a clear story to me.”
He then said: “We’ve had lots and lots of messages like that.
“There’s one interesting point I was thinking about last night. Obviously we had the nuremberg trials after the war and we hanged quite a few Nazis and imprisoned a lot of others, and we let them out, eventually. But we didn’t go after the Hitler Youth.
“As far as I’m aware. We didn’t go after the Hitler Youth, we only went after adults, who had served in the Hitler regime. And that’s just something to reflect on, I think.”
Susanna, who had been nodding along with Richard when he spoke, then looked at him in disbelief as he made his comparison.
Viewers were amused by Richard’s metaphor, with many taking to Twitter to debate his words.
One viewer wrote: “Madeley has just gone full Partridge again when talking about Shamima Begum.”
While another questioned: “Not sure if he's defending Begum or saying we should have hung the Hitler youth.”
