Ed Balls has found himself in the firing line of Good Morning Britain fans once again on Tuesday, thanks to his line of questioning towards Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch.
Alongside co-host Susanna Reid, the former Labour politician had plenty to grill the Tory leader on as her party's conference continues in Manchester.
On the agenda were questions about the latest Conservative defections to Reform UK, how Ms Badenoch will prepare for the next election, and the Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick's, comments about Handsworth in Birmingham.
Mr Jenrick has come out swinging in the past 24 hours after a recording emerged of him saying Handsworth was "one of the worst-integrated places" in the UK, and that he "did not see another white face" during a visit there.
ITV GMB: Kemi Badenoch was grilled by Susanna Reid and Ed Balls on Tuesday
|ITV
Keen to hear Ms Badenoch's thoughts, Ms Reid kicked off the interview with the "bad news" that eight Conservative councillors had defected to Reform UK. "I mean, they pick their timing, don’t they?" she asked.
Ms Badenoch firmly replied: "Well, I’m always very sorry to lose people from the party, but as you can see from this conference, we are changing the Conservative Party — talking about stronger economies, stronger borders.
"Reform is a party that wants to spend more on welfare. We know there are some Conservatives who agree with those policies on increased welfare, on nationalisation, and if that’s what they think is right for them, then we’re sorry to lose them. But we need to make it very clear that we are the party of fiscal responsibility."
Ms Reid then turned her attention to the Shadow Justice Secretary: "Robert Jenrick... would be more at home in the Reform Party. He seems to be turning into a bit of a headline-grabbing liability for you..."
ITV GMB: Kemi Badenoch defended Robert Jenrick
|ITV
Ms Badenoch refused to be drawn into a slanging match with her colleague: "Robert is a fiscal Conservative. There’s only one fiscally conservative party, and that is the Conservative Party.
"He is a member of my team — we’re a strong team, we work well together — and I’d rather have Robert around me in the shadow cabinet than not. He’s doing a great job."
Ms Reid soon brought up the Handsworth remarks: "I can’t imagine you saying — and perhaps I’m wrong — that if you’d gone to Handsworth in Birmingham, he says, 'I didn’t see another white face, and that’s not the kind of country I want to live in.' What did you think when you heard that?"
"Well, a lot of the comments, I believe, are taken out of context," the Conservative leader fired back. "It was a much longer conversation, and the beginning of the conversation has not been aired.
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ITV GMB: Ed Balls came under fire for his remarks towards Kemi Badenoch
|ITV
"What I know that he is concerned about, which I’m also concerned about, is an increased separatism in our country. We are a successful multiracial country. We need that to continue to be the case, but there are many places where we can see that things are changing.
"In extreme scenarios, we look at what happened in Manchester just last week, where hatred just spilled out onto the streets and killed two British Jewish people. Very significant today — October 7th — is the two-year anniversary of that massacre.
"We want people in our country who believe in the UK, and what we have seen in Birmingham is a rise in such separatism. We’ve seen MPs elected on a pro-Gaza separatist ticket. That’s not something that we agree with."
At that point, Mr Balls decided to chip in: "Your former Mayor of the West Midlands, the Conservative Andy Street, says that Robert Jenrick is wrong on this. I think he would say you were wrong in what you just said.
Robert Jenrick has hit headlines in recent days
| PA"He said pretty bluntly, 'Robert is wrong. It’s a place I know very well — Handsworth. It’s come a hell of a long way'. He says it’s actually one of the most successfully integrated places in the UK.
"He says you see Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Christians — a lot of them of African-Caribbean origin — and of course white people as well. Brilliant civil society, brilliant faith leadership. Andy Street, the former Conservative mayor who knows that place really well, says it’s become more integrated.
"But what you’re doing is agreeing with Robert Jenrick, peddling Nigel Farage’s lines about things getting worse," he quizzed with a smirk.
Ms Badenoch unambiguously hit back: "I completely disagree with that. Robert’s saying what he saw, Andy’s saying his experience.
Nigel Farage was brought up by Ed Balls as he tried to ridicule Robert Jenrick
| PA"What I do know is that there were MPs elected in Birmingham on a sectarian ticket. That is not integration. We have Birmingham MPs talking about airports in Pakistan rather than airports in the UK — that is not good integration.
"We need our politicians to be focused on what is happening in our country. They’re more interested in what’s happening in Gaza than in getting the bins cleared up on the streets of Birmingham. That’s what we’re worried about.
"And right now, we want people to get back to what we need to focus on: how do we get a stronger economy, how do we get stronger borders? I spoke in my speech about how we’re a multiracial country, but we must become a multicultural country where people are moving into different parts of society, not having shared values, not having shared loyalties.
"If we fragment, we’re not going to have a stronger economy, and our borders will continue to be insecure. And that’s the message we’re pushing at this conference."
The discussion prompted a rather strong response from ITV viewers tuned in at home, with many feeling Ms Reid and Mr Balls both showed clear signs of "bias" against the Tory leader.
"These so-called unbiased presenters should get off their backside instead of doing reality TV and red carpet dos, (and) they should walk around areas in London like Whitechapel. They’d shocked," one viewer fumed on X.
A second echoed: "All these posh while middle-class folk like Ed should move to Hansworth and take Maguire with you. Kemi speaking the absolute truth. #gmb."
"Ed and Susanna as woeful as ever," a third criticised before a fourth fumed: "Yvette Cooper's (husband) should not be presenting/asking questions. The man is biased."
ITV GMB: Kemi Badenoch was speaking live from Manchester
|ITV
Elsewhere, a fifth asked: "Anybody notice the smug, mocking, faces of the ex-Labour Minister and the inadequate ‘presenter’ next to him?"
And a sixth praised Ms Badenoch for her retort: "I have to say she more than held her own, made lefty Ed look his normal stupid self, I am not yet voting Tory, but she is good, it’s what’s around her that does not convince me. My other observation is she is far more charismatic than Starmer."
However, there were a handful of ITV viewers who felt the Conservative leader failed to handle herself well following the questions from Mr Balls and Ms Reid.
"What a rude, condescending woman Badenoch is! I'm not surprised she is so unpopular," one viewer argued on X, while a second claimed: "Kemi Badenoch currently falling apart live on @GMB. Susanna Reid tells her live on air that 8 Tory councillors are defecting to Reform. Badenoch completely loses her thread and just says, well, words #GMB." (sic)