Kate Garraway sparks ITV GMB fury as she abruptly ends Wes Streeting interview for 'shameful' reason: 'Sunk to a new low!'

After it emerged that some nurses warned that corridor care was becoming a "permanent feature" in their day-to-day procedures, Mr Streeting assured Ms Garraway and co-host Richard Madeley that things were improving.

"Waiting lists, you want to talk about, are coming down, and there's a dispute about whether that is the reality, actually, but you've got actual data about corridor care? Can you not share it now?" Ms Garraway put to the Health Secretary.

Mr Streeting replied: "Corridor care data will be out in the coming weeks, but today we'll be publishing new data on urgent and emergency care, including waiting times in emergency departments, ambulance response times, as well as the overall waiting lists.

"And by the way, all of these things are linked. So the reason why our emergency departments are more busy than they should be is because there are lots of people walking through the door when it's not an accident or when it's not an emergency, because that was the only choice left open to them.

"There are people in our hospitals who are fit to leave but are unable to be discharged, either because our processes are too slow or the care isn't there.

"All of these things are linked. On all of these fronts, we are beginning to see things moving in the right direction.

"I don't want to overclaim on any of this because, for all of the progress we make on this, the challenges remain enormous.

"But I do want to give people the confidence of knowing that whether it's accessing your GP, where patient satisfaction with access has gone from 60 to 75 percent, that's moved in the right direction, the waiting lists have fallen by a quarter of a million, and I've done my best over winter to keep them falling despite strikes and despite those pressures - people can judge me on the results of that."

Rustling of paper began to be heard off-camera during Mr Streeting's retort as he plowed on: "But I am the first to say that there's a lot done, but there's a lot more to do.

"I don't hide from these things, when one of my local hospitals hit the headlines before Christmas because of the scenes in the corridors, I felt a bit sorry for them being singled out because they weren't a unique case, but I went along to see it for myself and to talk to the trust to see what they were doing and what they needed from me to make sure that we do better than next year than we did this year.

"That's how we're gonna turn the NHS around, it's not gonna be -" Mr Streeting went on, but soon found himself drowned out by the ITV hosts.

"Health Secretary, we will have to cut in!" Ms Garraway interjected. "We've got lots to talk to you about, but actually we need to take our viewers to outer space, would you believe, for something that's happening right now!"

"We have to put the screens across, I'm afraid," Mr Madeley quipped, as Ms Garraway explained the sudden interruption.

She said: "But thank you very much, and come back and talk to us again. We want to take you to these live pictures because they are extraordinary.

"This is four astronauts from the SpaceX Crew 11 mission, they are returning to Earth after 167 days in space.

"Now, they had to leave the International Space Station a month early after one of them developed a serious medical condition.

"They just splashed down in California any minute. It's very hard to see in the dark, but this is the first medical evacuation of its kind since the station was opened in 1998. And the challenge of it is absolutely extraordinary."

As Ms Garraway spoke, live footage from the coast of California played out on-screen, although the pictures were hard to decipher due to the blanket of darkness and grainy footage.

As a result, viewers were quick to vent their outrage. Several felt it was "disrespectful" to cut off the Health Secretary, while others fumed "Brits would have rather" heard more from the politician than see the feed from California.

Complaints rained in on X. "#GMB cutting an interview with the health secretary to show grainy images of astronauts returning is everything that's wrong with modern-day journalism," one viewer raged.

"Bit rude to cut Wes Streeting off to see astronauts land in the U.S. What’s more important? #GMB," a second questioned, while a third fumed: "How rude … you should be ashamed cutting the Wes Streeting interview off to go to a black screen with a few lights on … get a grip ITV."

"Cut short to show grainy images and a pod in the ocean, shame on you, GMB," another echoed, while a fifth weighed in: "GMB sinks to new low. Cutting short a discussion with Streeting to show poor images and more importantly an ad break. Very, very poor."

A further viewer was in shock: "I have to say GMB priorities this morning beggar belief. You were interviewing Wes Streeting, cut him off mid-answer to say we had important news. Thought it might be Iraq - US intervention, but no, it’s a space station crew landing back on Earth. Really, is this time critical!!"

A seventh hit out: "@GMB @richardm56 @ranvir01 SO THEY INTERRUPTED INTERVIEW WITH THE HEALTH SECRETARY TO BRING LIVE PICTURES OF ASTRONAUTS ARRIVING BACK FROM THE I.S.S!!!! WHAT WE AS BRITS WOULD RATHER STAY WITH THE HEALTH SECRETARY. SHAME ON YOU ALL @GMB." (sic)

"@GMB Can not believe you cut off Wes Streeting to go to something totally irrelevant!!!!! Terrible broadcasting," added another, while a fellow X user vented their disappointment by saying: "@GMB What is going on? How disrespectful to bin off Wes Streeting like that. Shocking telly."

However, some comments praised the interview. "@GMB enjoyed Wes Streeting responding to interview questions from Kate Garraway and giving his account of the actions being taken by him & his dept. Defending the NHS, the staff and his own commitment to change," one viewer argued. (sic)

Mr Streeting also appeared on the People's Channel on Thursday morning, where he faced questions from Ellie Costello and Stephen Dixon without interruption.

In a particularly heated exchange, Ellie put Mr Streeting on the spot over postponed local elections, accusing the Government of “running scared of the electorate” in what she branded a “disgraceful attack on democracy”.

Mr Streeting responded: “No. And look, I understand why people scrutinise a decision like this, because the right to vote is a fundamental one, and any delays should always be a last resort and need to be justified to the electorate.

"We don’t want to set precedents for abuse of our democracy in the future. Bear in mind, we are having a major local government reorganisation.

“Some of the councils that have opted not to call elections are actually being abolished. So it doesn’t make much sense to go through the cost and expense of electing people to a body that will no longer exist.

"The councils choosing not to go ahead with elections and setting out why to their own communities comes from a range of political parties as well. So this isn’t a party political thing.”

Breakfast also addressed the SpaceX landing later in the programme, providing footage of the Nasa live feed in a dedicated portion of the programme.