Adil Ray tore into Dominic Raab on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, after the deputy prime minister quoted incorrect figures about those in hospital with the Omicron variant.
Prior to his appearance on the ITV breakfast show, Raab had told Sky News’ Kay Burley that 250 people had been hospitalised with the new Covid variant.
Approximately half an hour later, the Lord Chancellor told BBC Breakfast: “I know we’ve had one death and I think we’ve got nine people who are in hospital with it.”
The government also issued a correction and confirmed there were still just 10 people who had been hospitalised with Omicron – the same figure which was reported on Monday.
As Raab was then interviewed by Adil and co-host Ranvir Singh, the presenter took the minister to task over his incorrect figures.
“Simple question – how many people are in hospital? You told Sky News 250 people, you told BBC Breakfast nine. If you don’t know the actual basics, how can we respond to it?
“Do you want to give us a figure? You’ve got a third opportunity to tell us now. How many people lie in hospital with Omicron at the moment?”
Raab responded: “So it’s 10 at the moment.”
Adil continued: “You’ve given three different numbers on three national news shows.”
Raab hit back: “I understand you like ranting at your politicians in the morning, but can I answer your question because it’s a fair challenge and I want to answer it.
“First of all, I misheard one of the questions whether it was around hospitalisations of Omicron patients or generally but the figures are one death from Omicron, 10 in hospital.”
Adil went on to add: “Forgive me if you think I am ranting, it’s passion, because some of us have lost relatives during this pandemic, 140,000 plus people have died and some of us are passionate about it, so forgive me if I choose to rant about it at times.”
On Monday, health secretary Sajid Javid had told journalists that 10 people were hospitalised with Omicron, one had died and that there were 3,000 infections altogether in the UK.
The government has announced the expansion of the booster programme to help protect against Omicron, with every adult in England offered the jab by the end of the year.
The Commons will also be voting on bringing in the government’s ‘plan B’ which includes using Covid passes for crowded venues and working from home guidance on Tuesday.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.