Good Morning Britain’s Richard Madeley butted heads with a Labour minister live on air, after he predicted an upcoming “PR nightmare” for Andy Burnham’s government.
During Monday morning’s episode of ITV’s flagship breakfast news programme, Madeley and co-host Kate Garraway spoke to business minister Chris McDonald about the government’s new plans and policies.
While discussing prime minister Andy Burnham’s review of the prison early release scheme, McDonald said that Labour didn’t “want to be in this position” and were “racing to catch up” with mismanagement of the prison system under the Conservatives.
McDonald said that the priority was keeping the most dangerous prisoners behind bars and ensuring that there was “cell space” for the incoming perpetrators of serious crimes, with Garraway attempting to calm the conversation as she said that she didn’t think viewers thought “you want to do this”, but that it was still a “national crisis”.
While McDonald clarified that there were no “easy solutions”, Madeley suggested that this could prove a problem for Labour’s public image.
“The PR nightmare for you is coming down the tracks, isn’t it?” asked Madeley, to which McDonald interjected: “Richard, no, hang on! You said it’s a PR nightmare; I’m not concerned about PR. I’m concerned about prisoner safety and the safety of the general public.”
However, Madeley shot back that McDonald perhaps “should be” concerned, as the scheme was rolled out and the consequences were seen in the real world.c
“When it stops being a prospect – which there’s still time to reverse – when it actually happens, there’s going to be a massive, overwhelming backlash against it. That’s what I mean,” he said.
In response, McDonald said that “the government is not making decisions on prisons and prisoner releases based on PR”.
“This isn’t about public relations, this is about making the right decisions for justice, for victims, for the safety of the general public,” he said. “I’m not remotely thinking about the PR of this, and I’m absolutely certain the Prime Minister isn’t either.”
Garraway then interjected again, clarifying her fellow presenter’s point by saying: “OK, of course it is. I don’t think Richard meant public relations in terms of press, I think he meant that you’re going to feel the force of people’s anger.”
