Channel 5 Vine caller explodes as 'desperate' guest blames Farage and Brexit for Labour government failings: 'It's Reeves and Starmer's doing!'

Mr Calgie, who admittedly backed the UK to leave during the campaign, put up a staunch defence of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage after the politician was accused of being responsible for Brexit's failings by Ms Khan.

Ms Khan claimed Mr Farage had "never been held to account" and had "gotten away with murder" for his role in Brexit, despite not being in government and being able to implement actual policies once the UK voted out of the European Union.

During their heated exchange, Mr Calgie fumed: "If you went so far as to say that Brexit has screwed the economy and it’s screwed Labour, fine.

"To pin it on Nigel Farage, who, yes, may have been a vociferous campaigner — I spoke for Brexit in 2016 — Nigel Farage was just as able to implement Brexit after the vote as I was. He was just the campaigner."

Mr Vine weighed back in: "When you campaign for something, you’ve got to say, 'By the way, if this firework goes off in the wrong direction, several people will die.' You should have said that it may go badly wrong."

Mr Calgie hit back: "Let’s also remember that David Cameron, George Osborne, and the Project Fear — they were saying we were going to have World War III, there was going to be an outbreak of super gonorrhoea, we’d all starve to death... None of that happened either, and they’re not held accountable for their lies.

"Everyone during that campaign embellished the truth, but it just seems the Brexiteers are held accountable for that."

"How are they held accountable? In what way are they held accountable?" Ms Khan interjected, prompting Mr Calgie to fire back: "Well, you’re constantly making stuff up about the money not going to the NHS."

Ms Khan stood firm in her defiance: "Nobody’s been held accountable. And that’s the problem. I’d be happy to see David Cameron held accountable. I’d be first in line to be like, 'David Cameron, what were you doing?'"

"Nigel Farage was not responsible for implementing Brexit," Mr Calgie pointed out, but Ms Khan refused to budge: "You cannot deny he was a key figure."

"In the campaign, yes, but he was a campaigner," Mr Calgie reiterated, which prompted Mr Vine to repeat his firework analogy from earlier in the debate.

"You can say that about anyone," Mr Calgie fired back. "You can say that about Labour’s election win last year — we’d say, 'Well, it might go completely head over heels into a ditch.' Okay. People still voted for it. That’s democracy."

Ms Khan's tirade against Mr Farage continued, however: "I do a podcast, and we are on the left, and we are constantly talking about Labour’s failures. It’s not true that we aren’t holding people accountable.

"Nigel Farage, I’m sorry, it feels like there’s one rule for him and another for everyone else. Reform just yesterday cancelled their promise of £90 billion of tax cuts. It’s not going to be a U-turn on the front page of every single paper, as it would be if it happened for Labour."

After hearing Ms Khan and Mr Calgie's row, caller Shelly from Tyne and Wear dialed in to let loose. "It’s such a waffle," she began, referring to the criticism of Mr Farage and Brexit.

"I was just going to say what that gentleman just said about blaming the Tories last year, now it’s Brexit and Farage this year. Rachel Reeves put up spending insurance on employers, jobs have been going up every year!

"And if it was Brexit, how come France is in such a state of rioting on the streets because they want to do austerity and cut, cut, cut?"

"Yeah, look, nobody’s denying that lots of countries are facing issues," Ms Khan replied, prompting Mr Vine to point out that they didn't leave the European Union.

Ms Khan answered: "Look, the pound took a dive after 2016. It’s never recovered. Productivity has never recovered. We have a skills shortage, which is leading to an immigration crisis — which, you know, not my politics, but for many people is a concern.

"The fact of the matter is, Labour has been scared to talk about Brexit because they’re scared of losing the Brexiteers’ votes. Now they realise they’re never going to get them anyway, so they’re finally talking about what they should have been saying — which is that this has been a disaster and we need to fight back.

"Also, second to that, the reason we need to also have this conversation is because it’s about time that Nigel Farage is held accountable for the things that he does. He’s very much, 'Look what I say, not what I do.'"

But Shelly remained unconvinced: "It’s absolute rubbish. People have got minds of their own. They made up their own minds about what they were going to do. We watched all the programs. It’s like they’re saying all the people that voted for Brexit are thick and didn’t know what they were doing, and it’s insulting, really."

Ms Khan defended herself: "That’s not true. Sorry — if someone disagrees with you, it doesn’t mean they’re saying you’re thick. You’re not calling me thick. I’m not calling you thick. We disagree on this. But ultimately, you and I, we aren’t in politics. We are just normal citizens.

"And so politicians need to be held to a higher accountability. And if they go and say that we’ll put £350 million into the NHS and it doesn’t happen, I think we have a right to say, 'I’m sorry, that was not fair and that was not right.' I think it’s good that we are questioning Nigel Farage. Nigel Farage was campaigning for Donald Trump when he was an MP, not representing his constituents. We let this man get away with murder."

Again, Shelly didn't budge: "I just think it’s absolutely ridiculous. Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer — it’s their own doing, what they’re doing to the economy. It’s their choices, and they’re looking for everything to blame but themselves."

The debate sparked quite a reaction among viewers who soon flocked to social media to share their opinions on what unfolded.

Another critic of Ms Khan fumed on X: "Once again Brexit (or Farage, take your pick) is 'to blame' for ALL of our woes. The desperation is so pathetic and transparent it's laughable!!"

A second similarly hit out: "Remainers told us Brexit wouldn't work and they went out of their way to make sure it didn't work just so they could say 'we told you so' #jeremyvine."

However, Ms Khan's position also had its supporters. "Sorry, but think if folk had of knew true implications of leaving etc then think most would have voted to remain," another viewer argued.

While a fourth viewer slammed the entire debate: "Another week of mostly unwatchable rubbish. How much longer can you survive?" (sic)