Not much makes me cross, but I absolutely cannot stand it when politicians turn their noses up at answering questions from GB News at press conferences. It is simply a direct affront to the vast numbers of GB News viewers who support our work.
Yesterday was one such day. It was Budget Day, of course, and for some weeks I had been asking aides to Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, for the opportunity to question her on behalf of GB News' viewers after the Budget. I was worried that this would not happen.
A few weeks ago, at her infamous breakfast press conference, when she pitched rolled viewers to be ready for manifesto-busting increases in income tax rates, Reeves had not called me for a question.
So when I was invited to the Chancellor's press conference in a central London hospital yesterday afternoon, barely two hours after she had delivered her Budget speech, I turned up with some trepidation.
Her team were very keen. I attended, texting me to ask when I was arriving, but when I got there, it was clear they had selected six other reporters to ask her questions.
I put my hand in the air to grab her attention for any opportunity to grill the Chancellor, to no avail. "A GB News question?" I shouted at the end when it was clear I was not going to be asked.
"No I am sorry that's all we have time this afternoon," she said. "Why not?" I asked.
Why, indeed. This is not about my ego (OK, it is a bit), but I was just so incensed that as a representative of the legions of GB News in Westminster and Whitehall, I had again been cut out of the opportunity to grill the Chancellor.
All of this was captured live on the channel, of course. Presenter Martin Daubney told his viewers that he was "astonished".
I posted my outrage on X: "Chancellor Rachel Reeves has not called me at a press conference for the second time in succession after taking questions from Sky, BBC (twice), and ITV (twice), among others.
When I asked her to take a question from @GBNEWS a moment ago, she declined. This is an insult to the huge numbers who now tune in to the UK’s number one news channel."
My questions would have been straightforward for the Chancellor: why do the overwhelming number of GB News viewers feel they have lost out in the Budget?
Why are more nurses like the ones in this room now paying the higher rate of tax? Why are you increasing taxes and giving the money to people on benefits? Nevertheless, the strategy not to call GB News - if that is what it was - soon backfired.
How the Chancellor treated GB News on Budget day was a colossal act of self-sabotage - Christopher Hope | PA/Getty Images
My tweet on X was gaining attention. At the last count, it had been viewed 640,000 times. Daubney invited me onto his show.
"It is a gross insult to GB News viewers and listeners that the Chancellor is not taking our questions," I told him.
A vast audience for our four-year-old channel was looking on. The channel secured average views of 137,500 (2.28 per cent) yesterday, well ahead of Sky News on 119,200 (1.98 per cent), and the BBC News Channel on 115,100 (1.91 per cent), a new daily record.
But between 4pm and 4.30pm when Reeves gave her press conference in which she failed very publicly to take my questions, our average audience was 185,450, almost 12 per cent higher than Sky News’ audience of 165,850.
Afterwards, Reeves' team were apologetic about the apparent snub, and - to their credit - arranged for the Chancellor to appear on our Breakfast show this morning to answer questions.
But it should not be this hard to persuade the Chancellor to appear on GB News.
I hope the Treasury is more amenable to my requests to speak to the Chancellor next time. After all, as the bean counters in the Treasury will know all too well, the soaring viewing figures at the People's Channel can no longer be ignored.
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