ITV GMB 'bias' row explodes as Jeffrey Archer delivers 'shambolic' unchallenged Nigel Farage rant: 'Attacks from all angles!'

With Mr Farage and his cohorts shooting up the polls ahead of Keir Starmer's Labour and Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives, Ms Garraway and Mr Madeley were keen to hear from Lord Archer, who had pre-empted the Reform UK leader's political success.

"In 2014, you called that Nigel Farage was going to be underestimated, and who then would've thought that he and his party would be beating all others in the polls," Ms Garraway said during the interview.

Lord Archer leant back as he replied: "Well, I saw the Prime Minister and said, 'You've got to put him in the House of Lords, he's trouble'. He's the best mob orator!"

His warning to the Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron, fell on deaf ears. Lord Archer continued: "(If you) put him in the House of Lords, you've killed him. He can't do anything. Don't let him out.

"He was on nought per cent, to be fair to the Prime Minister, on nought per cent! But what I saw in him was a rabble rouser.

"What I saw in him was the best mob orator since Michael Foot, so I said, 'The way to get rid of him is to put him in the Lords!'"

Mr Madeley then chipped in to ask: "So in your view then, if you can distill it, what makes a good mob orator?"

Continuing his damning assessment of Mr Farage, Lord Archer took a dig at Mr Starmer too, as he replied: "Which the Prime Minister is not.

"You need to be able to stand up and say something as outrageous as immigrants are eating swans, and then think you can get away with it.

"He's going the Trumpian route. To keep himself in the headlines the whole time, he will say more and more outrageous things that stop Kemi Badenoch from being in the headlines, stop Keir Starmer from being in the headlines, he'll be in the headlines.

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"Watch him carefully. It's going to go on and on. He's very good at what he does."

Ms Garraway then asked: "And you said you'd been surprised by how many people have told you I'm gonna vote Reform next time."

Explaining why, Lord Archer said: "Yes. Judged by what people tell me in the street. And a member of parliament said to me the other day - and I can repeat it because he said it on television the day after - that the Conservative Party will be down to 25 seats at the next election.

"So, unless Farage wins the whole thing, even a coalition between him and the Conservatives won't work. It will probably be a coalition between Labour and the Liberal (Democrats).

"Now, Farage won't mind that, he'll let that (happen) and then he will become Prime Minister."

Lord Archer's comments against Mr Farage, combined with the fact that neither he nor any Reform UK representative was in the vicinity to offer a counter-argument, sparked uproar among some ITV viewers.

"More biased propaganda from GMB, the CNN of the UK," one X user said regarding Lord Archer's interview.

A second echoed: "Attacks from all angles now on Farage and Reform from the out-of-touch elite. Shows they are petrified."

"What a painful, shambolic interview," a third raged before a fourth hit out: "Archer is part of the establishment, she has a vested interest in slagging off Nigel."

And a fifth fumed: "This was a man who was put in prison for four years for perjury; he has no credibility."

Even those who agreed with Lord Archer's claims had a point to make: "You are so right, Archer, but it's what we want and he will get a majority."

Elsewhere, others disapproved of the entire debate: "One charlatan gives his views on another charlatan. GMB down in the gutter." (sic)