Ranvir Singh sparks ITV GMB outrage with 'disgraceful' remark to Reform UK chairman over Gorton and Denton defeat: 'Uncalled for!'

Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin finished as a runner-up in the area behind The Green Party's Hannah Spencer in a historic night for the Zack Polanski-led party.

The results represented a crushing defeat for Labour, with Ms Spencer managing to overturn a huge 13,000-strong Labour majority in the seat.

Ms Spencer secured 14,980 votes, representing a 40.7 percent share, while Mr Goodwin had to settle for second with 10,578, and Labour's Angeliki Stogia finished in third with 9,364.

The Reform UK candidate blamed the Greens' win on a "coalition of Islamists and woke progressives", before adding: "I think what you've seen is the emergence of a dangerous sectarianism in British politics. I think the Greens are riding a very dangerous wave."

However, during the discussion with Dr Bull, Ms Singh and Ms Garraway were quick to try to pin the blame on Reform UK for its failure to bag the seat.

"I just wanted to ask you about the candidate that you chose to stand in this election, Matt Goodwin," Ms Singh said at one point during the interview.

"He was unofficially endorsed by Tommy Robinson. Tommy Robinson is a man that Nigel Farage has gone to great lengths to disassociate himself from, to say that he would explicitly never allow the likes of Tommy Robinson into Reform UK.

"Matt Goodwin has also been somebody who has suggested that childless people should be taxed more, and that those women who do not have children should be aware of their biological sort of responsibility.

"All of these things must have played into the fact that, actually, Matt Goodwin was not the right candidate for this by-election, and that was a failure of Reform UK for choosing him," she concluded.

Dr Bull continued to back Mr Goodwin as he fired back: "Look, Matt was a great candidate, I have to hand it to him. He was out on the doorstep every single day in pouring rain, as I know only too well, having been there for the last four weeks.

"Tommy Robinson can like who he likes. He’s nothing to do with our party, and we made that very clear indeed.

"Now Matt is also an academic, so he throws around ideas. Nothing he said is official Reform policy-"

Ms Singh interrupted: "But if he’s going to stand to be a Member of Parliament, it is his responsibility, isn’t it?"

"That's not how it works," Dr Bull added before Ms Singh plowed on: "So what do you make of — I mean, do you take any responsibility for the failure then?

"Because it sounds to me like what you’re saying is this was something going on that was a bit sort of left field, literally left field, with the way that they were campaigning towards the Muslim voters.

"What about Reform’s own policies? You’ve abandoned £90 billion of tax cuts. You said you’re going to reinstate the two-child benefit cap for those on Universal Credit, which would affect those who are the poorest in society.

"Do you not take some responsibility there? What happened was that people didn’t want to vote for your candidate because they didn’t like your policies."

Dr Bull stood firm: "I disagree, actually. I was out there campaigning. People told me they were concerned about the level of immigration.

"They talked about the fact that they’ve been failed consistently by the Labour Party. They talked about the lack of housing.

"The fact is, there are no prospects, no future for young people. The decimation of the high street. That’s what people talked about.

"If you go to Gorton and Denton, the heart of these communities has been literally ripped out. The shops have shut. We’re seeing all the businesses closed-"

It was then Ms Garraway's turn to interject: "Sorry, I just want to pick you up on a couple of things there.

"Yes, that might well be the case, but they didn’t choose you to solve those problems. They voted for the Green Party. You also said that Reform candidates can throw around their own policies.

Dr Bull promptly corrected the ITV presenter: "No, I didn’t. I said that we have robust discussions where we throw around ideas. It was never party policy.

"But the point is, I go back to the point, we never expected to win that seat. And to come second shows that something is going on.

"What I would say is that you are seeing the death of the two-party system. Labour is in serious trouble. The Tories were nowhere to be seen."

As the conversation drew to a close, Ms Singh was clearly unconvinced by Dr Bull's rebuttals, remarking: "Bull by name, bull by nature."

The manner in which the ITV presenting duo conducted the interview, along with Ms Singh's comment about Dr Bull towards the end of their discussion, left several viewers at home up in arms.

Taking to X, one viewer slammed: "Ranvir's slur at David at the end...'Bull by name bull by nature', I am certain there will be a few impartiality complaints sent to Ofcom about that comment..."

A second echoed: "Comments like this from Ranvir. If uncalled for, the pair of them need to be replaced. Kate consistently shouting over guests and Ranvir becoming the same, it’s a wonder they get anyone on the show."

"So @ranvir01 just referred to you as Bull by name, Bull by nature on @GMB. How rude," a third viewer hit out, while a fourth raged: "@GMB Why do you openly hate Reform so much? Ranvir Singh and Kate Garraway's 'interview’ with @drdavidbull was a disgrace."

Elsewhere, another weighed in: "Not a very impartial interview of Dr David Bull this morning. Both presenters very dismissive of him. Very disappointing from a viewer's point of view."

And a sixth added to the dismay: "#GMB Awful interview with reform this morning. Kate & especially Ranvir were argumentative, aggressive & were clearly not neutral.

"Fair play for Reform for calmly sticking it out. The presenters' questioning style showed their personal views & they seemed out of their depth."

However, some viewers appeared to enjoy Ms Singh's quip about Dr Bull and the presenting duo's combative interviewing style.

"Absolutely hilarious to see @drdavidbull being completely outwitted on @GMB by @ranvir01 and @kategarraway and right at the end being eviscerated by Ranvir with 'Bull by name and Bull by nature' and him being too thick to realise," one X user argued.

A second applauded: "Well done Kate and Ranvir for not bowing down to this man who blames everyone and everything other than the fact that the electorate doesn’t agree with the politics of Reform."

And another shared their hopes: "Hopefully @GMB you will now stop constantly interviewing Reform Party, they are not an alternative Party for people in the UK."

After her victory, newly elected Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer declared she would always "fight" for the constituency's white working class while standing up for its Muslim community.

She told voters: “I know that earning your trust starts now. One vote on one night is not something I will take for granted or assume will happen again.

"I will earn your trust. And to those who didn’t vote for me, I will always work hard for you, I will always be honest and I will always be decent.

“To our Muslim communities who this week suffered an attempted attack during Ramadan, while I was being welcomed by women at a mosque in Longsight, someone just down the road walked into a mosque carrying an axe.

"And whilst we were gathered and eating together an act of terror could easily have taken place.

"I can’t and won’t accept this victory tonight without calling out the politicians and divisive figures who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society. My Muslim friends and neighbours are just like me, human.

"And of course to our white working class communities, the background that I have become so proud to be from, we know how it feels to be looked down on, maybe because we didn’t do well at school, maybe because we do dirty, manual jobs, because we are shut out of places we should be in, to people here in Gorton and Denton who feel left behind and isolated, I see you and I will fight for you.”