Jacob Rees-Mogg seemed to meet his match on Tuesday evening after inviting an anti-Brexit commentator onto his own GB News show.
The Conservative MP, who served in government under Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, now hosts an evening talk show called State Of The Nation – and his discussion (or rather, argument) with one particular commentator has gone viral.
Marina Purkiss, known for airing her anti-Brexit views and publicly opposing the Tory government, clashed with Rees-Mogg repeatedly over a huge variety of issues during their brief on-air exchange.
The debate began with culture wars, as Rees-Mogg asked his guest if they really existed.
Purkiss said she believed they did, and explained: “Because people like you and your party in government, they desperately need them to exist, because what else are you going to win the next election on?”
She said it was all a “distraction technique” to prevent people from focusing on the “real grievances in their lives which are caused by your government”.
She suggested that education issues, ambulance waits and soaring energy bills are all the real problems people face in the UK right now.
Rees-Mogg said: “Isn’t this why you should stand up for freedom of speech? Because if you attack freedom of speech in some areas, you’re then putting the government in control, you’re deciding politicians should...”
Purkiss cut in: “Mr freedom-of-speech here, did you or did you not vote to stop people protesting if it was annoying?”
Rees-Mogg said public protest was key to freedom of speech.
Purkiss replied: “What you do, it’s flawed. Your freedom of speech – all you do is you use your platform, you are born into a life of privilege Jacob, you decided to be a con man to lie to people who trust you.”
The commentator also explained her own stance when it comes to the government, saying: “I’m not a massive leftie, I just realised what you lot were doing in government is disgusting, and you lie and you lie and you lie – and you’ve got no contrition.”
Then they moved onto the topic of Brexit, which Purkis said happened because Rees-Mogg (along with the others who supported leaving the EU) lied and the public believed it.
“Are you telling me they [voters] should have known you were a liar?” She added.
Rees-Mogg hit back: “All you’re doing is mere abuse. You’re not making any arguments.”
Purkiss pointed out that Brexit has not yet brought cheaper goods, even though Brexiteers promised it would in the run-up to the referendum.
Rees-Mogg just said this was all “in the pipeline”.
Then, the pair clashed over fracking, and green energy, as the debate continued to escalate.
Purkiss said: “You’ve been proven, time and time again, and do you know what, you never say: ‘I’m really sorry, I told you everything was going to be better and it’s not.’”
“You disagree with me, but that’s not the same as lying,” Rees-Mogg replied. “What I promised about tariffs and food is true, they are being approved with the free trade agreement that we’ve been negotiating.”
The pair somehow circled back to “woke” in their discussion, too, before the MP cut the interview off.
A nine-minute extract on their tense debate was also shared on Twitter – and in less than 12 hours, it had more than five million views.
And users were quick to heap praise on Purkiss for “humiliating” the Tory MP.