Richard Madeley rips apart Sunak heckler after election speech chaos: 'Nation has a RIGHT to hear the PM!'

Richard Madeley rips apart Sunak heckler after election speech chaos: 'Nation has a RIGHT to hear the PM!'

WATCH HERE: Richard Madeley and Andrew Pierce assess Sunak's chances at snap election

ITV
Alex Davies

By Alex Davies


Published: 23/05/2024

- 09:46

Updated: 23/05/2024

- 10:54

The outspoken TV presenter wasn't impressed with the reception to the Prime Minister's Downing Street speech on Wednesday

Richard Madeley has made his feelings clear on the pro-EU, anti-Tory heckler who tried to drown out Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his Downing Street speech yesterday.

Sunak took to the podium outside No 10 on Wednesday afternoon to announce to the nation that we'd be heading for a General Election on July 4.


The decision by the Tory Party leader has been with a rather mixed bag from his supporters and critics alike, with GB News' Christopher Hope branding it the "biggest gamble in living political memory".

Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, soon reacted to the announcement with a plea that "Britain deserves better" than another Conservative Government - although his reaction was marred by a rather embarrassing typo.

At the scene of the speech, the heavens opened as a drenched Sunak made his case for the Conservatives to stay in power come July.

However, one of the biggest talking points from the monumental occasion came from just beyond Downing Street's gates where anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray began blaring out music from a speaker.

Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak: The PM announced the election date outside Downing Street

PA

D:Ream's Things Can Only Get Better began to blare out over Sunak's words as he did his best to ignore the disruption and address the nation at home.

Anti-Tory supporters revelled in what many deemed to be a humiliating sequence of events for Sunak but speaking on ITV's GMB on Thursday morning, an unimpressed Madeley questioned whether or not such disruption should be allowed.

Moments into the show, the former This Morning star said to co-host Susanna Reid: "Well, I did wonder actually - I'm all for free speech...

"But when the Prime Minister of whatever party is addressing the country... shouldn't that be cut a bit because it's really important!"

WATCH HERE: Rishi Sunak taking 'biggest gamble in living political memory' with summer election

Reid remained diplomatic as she suggested security should have "accounted" for a that sort of demonstration.

"Presumably under protest laws, the police can't take the speakers away," she added.

But Madeley doubled down with his opposition to the music, hitting back: "No but it does beg the question.

"An important moment like that, I think the nation has the right to hear what the Prime Minister is saying!"

ITV GMB: Richard Madeley

ITV GMB: Richard Madeley has hit out at the Sunak heckler during Wednesday's election announcement

ITV/PA

Later in the show, GB News star Andrew Pierce joined Madeley and Reid to discuss Sunak's announcement and shared his views on what the next six weeks hold.

"I think this is about Rishi Sunak trying to minimise the scale of the defeat," Pierce said.

"I think he goes into this thinking at best he might be able to get a hung parliament. He'll be clinging onto one conflation in the figures during the local election that said it could be a hung parliament but that omitted Scotland (and Wales) which is a significant part of Labour's support.

"Only the most wildly optimistic could have concluded from those local elections that we're heading for a hung parliament," Pierce predicted.

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