THE CEO of Republic has clashed with Sky News presenter Kay Burley as she branded coronation spending estimates "as wild speculation".
In an interview with Graham Smith, the leader of Republic who was arrested on Saturday, presenter Kay Burley repeatedly interrupted his explanations to the point where she was asked by the activist if she wanted to have “a sensible conversation”.
Eight campaigners for the group Republic, which had liaised with the Met to organise a coronation day protest in Trafalgar Square, were arrested early on Saturday on suspicion of going equipped to lock-on, but were released 16 hours later without charge.
Invited on to explain what had happened on Saturday, Smith said: “This was celebration, a £250 million celebration, of an institution that we oppose and it was in that sense a political event and we wanted to make sure the opposition had a very clear voice, and that voice was significantly disrupted, and of course, the voice of those arrested was completely removed and we were not able to do that. This was a peaceful, lawful protest.”
Burley interrupted Smith to ask how he knew the cost of the coronation to which he replied: “That’s been the estimate put out in the media.”
Burley said: “No, no Graham, come on, only one newspaper said £250 million.”
Smith began to say “we can argue about the details” but was interrupted by Burley as she said “let’s stay with the facts”.
Burley then labelled Smith’s comments as “wild speculation”, which he denied, to which she repeatedly said over Smith attempting to explain: “Yeah it was. Yeah it was.”
The Sky News presenter said she had done “a lot of research” into the cost of the coronation and that it was “no way 250 million quid at this stage.” Smith said it was “very easily” costing the taxpayer that.
Current estimates of the coronations lie in the region of £150 million with The Mirror reporting up to £250 million with the addition of security for the Royal Family.
Smith asked Burley “please don’t argue about facts that I’m well aware of” and pointed out that there was a previously a guest on Kay Burley that stated “wild speculation” of intelligence to support the arrests.
Burley repeatedly asked Smith to tell viewers about officers that had came round to his house and apologising but continued to interrupt and talk over Smith before he asked, “Do you want to have a sensible conversation?” Burley replied: “Go on then.”
'Don't just give me wild speculation about numbers' @KayBurley and Graham Smith, Chief Executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, clash over reports about the cost of the King's coronationhttps://t.co/GBu4KzyEur 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/4LYVuIbO2x
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 9, 2023
Smith said: “There was no intelligence, there could not possibly have been any intelligence, there was no evidence of any intent or capacity to commit any offense. Yes, the officers came round to hand back my phone and the straps we had with us – which were not capable of locking on.
“There was no suggestions of any wrongdoing from the eight people from Republic that were arrested at all."
Met chief Sir Mark Rowley has insisted police had “serious and reliable intelligence” that protesters planned to disrupt the coronation by using rape alarms or loud hailers during the coronation procession.
Writing in the Evening Standard, Rowley said that officers were so concerned about the risks that the Home Secretary and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan were briefed on Friday night.
Volunteers for charity Night Star, that hands out rape alarms to women on their way home from nights out, were arrested in the early hours of Saturday in Soho in central London.
