A Tory MP has been blasted for the “patronising” moment he pulled his phone out in the middle of a live debate with a Labour MP on Sky News.
In a now-deleted clip shared earlier by Sky News on Twitter, Monmouth MP David Davies refused to answer questions about the impact of a hard Brexit on the youth unemployment rate in Anna Turley’s constituency of Redcar.
Arguing that he “wasn’t given much of a chance” to talk, he turned away and pulled out his phone.
“Well you carry on, you carry on. I’ll check my phone while you have a little chat, okay? You carry on.”
“Great. This is an amazing way to debate,” an incredulous Turley responded.
“Let’s not be patronising,” presenter Kay Burley interjected, in response to Davies’ move.
“I’m not being patronising...but I can’t get any word in edgeways in,” he insisted.
“No, no, no, that’s unacceptable. Please don’t speak to her in that fashion, that’s not acceptable,” Burley continued.
She said each speaker had been given equal time to speak, before abruptly ending his feature on the programme after Davies told them both to “carry on”.
Davies then proceeded to awkwardly shuffle off the platform as Burley remarked: “Walk in front of the camera, excellent”.
Twitter user Anna Phillips accused Davies of “throwing a tantrum”.
Labour MP Nic Dakin weighed in on Davies’ “desperate, reckless” behaviour.
But not everybody agreed, with others, including TalkRadio host Julia Hartley-Brewer, defending Davies.
Former Conservative MP Stewart Jackson accused Burley of showing “her bias”, while criticising Turley, whose constituency voted to leave the European Union, of “rude behaviour”.