ITV GMB hit with complaints after Matt Hancock interview

Regulator Ofcom received more than 100 complaints about the interview conducted by Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

The former health secretary joined the show on January 31 and was questioned about his controversial stay in the I’m a Celebrity jungle, and was also quizzed on his fee, which was revealed to be £320,000.

As he was questioned, Mr Hancock said he did not go into the jungle “primarily” for the money, saying he had given a “decent sum”, £10,000, to charity.

Susanna responded: “Couldn't they have benefitted from more of your fee rather than £10,000 out of a quarter of a million?"

The hosts then questioned whether his intention was to get into showbiz.

Susanna said: “"Would you like to sit in Richard's chair? Would you like to be in the Piers Morgan 'mincer' as you call it?"

When Mr Hancock only laughed in response, she added: "Well that wasn't a no. Do you want to be a host of Good Morning Britain is that what this is about?".

Elsewhere in his appearance, the former health secretary was confronted by Kate Garraway, he held back tears as she questioned him about his decision to appear on I’m a Celebrity.

Kate spoke of being unable to visit her husband Derek Draper in hospital as he battled Covid because she was following the Covid guidelines set out by Hancock, who would later be revealed to have broken his own guidance.

She said the former health secretary was being held to account for entering the celebrity jungle because he was only there due to being health secretary during the Covid pandemic.

Kate said: “I suppose the problem is that because you were health secretary and because at that time I could not visit Derek in hospital, he could not see his kids, thousands of others could not go and see the people they loved for various reasons, because they were following the guidelines and it was all very muddled for us at that point.

“It gives the impression that you still do not get why they are cross.

“I am sure there are many other people that went into the jungle when you did that maybe got more, maybe got less, but they are holding you to more account because you are probably only there because you were health secretary at the time.

“You made the decision to go in at a time before you had answered to an inquiry, and at a time when people still feel very raw.”

Responding to Kate, Matt Hancock said he wanted to “contribute” to make sure the next pandemic isn’t handled as poorly as the Covid pandemic by the Government.

He said: “The reason I think it is important I wrote the book, with the enquiry coming later is I have to be completely open about what I did, why I took those decisions.

“If I can contribute anything now to making sure this does not happen as badly when it is making sure we really learn the lessons about how it happened because there will be another one.”

Ofcom received 103 official complaints about Matt Hancock’s appearance on ITV Good Morning Britain last week.