Susanna Reid has won praise after holding Dominic Raab’s feet to the fire over the Chris Pincher scandal during a Good Morning Britain interview.
The deputy prime minister appeared on the ITV breakfast show on Tuesday, where he was questioned about whether Boris Johnson had previous knowledge of allegations of inappropriate behaviour levelled against Pincher.
He lost the Conservative whip last week after being accused of groping two men when he had “far too much” to drink.
Pincher was appointed to enforce party discipline in February this year. He had resigned as a junior whip back in November 2017 following a complaint that he made an unwanted pass at a Conservative candidate.
Susanna stated that Pincher was “found guilty” in a subsequent investigation, but Raab insisted that “no formal disciplinary action was taken” against Pincher, despite the the complaint being upheld.
A testy exchange between the pair then followed as they argued over whether it could be said Pincher was “found guilty”.
“Was he guilty of inappropriate behaviour or not?” Susanna said.
Raab said: “He was found… the claim was found to be substantiated but we didn’t...”
Susanna repeated her question, as Raab insisted the claims were “substantiated” but argued that “guilty is a very loaded term”.
“Sorry, inappropriate behaviour is a pretty loaded term, Mr Raab,” Susanna told him.
Raab appeared to lose patience, saying: “Sorry, if you’ll allow me to… Susanna you always do this.”
“What, ask questions?” she replied.
“Let me give you the account and your viewers can make up their minds. I’m always happy to answer difficult questions.”
Following the latest allegations made against Pincher last week, the prime minister initially tried to stand by him.
Downing Street also initially denied the PM had knowledge of prior allegations made against Pincher before he was appointed deputy chief whip in February.
However, on Monday No.10 admitted Johnson was aware of media reports and some allegations about Pincher’s misconduct that were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.