Monday morning got off to a fiery start as Susanna Reid and her latest Good Morning Britain co-host Ed Balls were joined live in the studio by a Silverstone protester. Over the weekend, during the British Grand Prix, a number of people made their way onto the track.
Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo slid upside down across the track before slamming into the tyre barrier, before it landed in the fencing in a major crash at the start of the Silverstone race. As the contest was immediately red flagged and cars headed for the pits, protesters broke onto the circuit at the Wellington Straight, before sitting down.
The protestors were dragged away by marshals as drivers sped by. It has since been confirmed by Northamptonshire Police that seven people have been arrested following the track invasion at the start of the British Grand Prix.
Appearing on GMB this morning, James Skeet spoke of his part in the Just Stop Oil protest, how he felt it was necessary to be able to draw attention to climate change and how he succeeded in getting onto the programme to talk about it.
During the chat, James was asked if he felt the protest had worked and if the campaign group had got what they wanted to which he said: "I'm on your programme talking about the most critical issue facing humanity, so yes I call that a success. It's absolutely about getting the publicity. We're out of time, unfortunately. We're in a dire situation. If we don't take action, we're all going to die."
He later added: "What your audience seemingly doesn't understand is that we're being categorically lied to, the government has no intention of dealing with this crisis ... and corporate media like yourselves are also complicit with this." But Susanna was quick to hit back at the show's guest.
"Except you say one of your objectives was to get on this programme in order to talk about this issue, so to accuse us of being complicit undermines your point."
James then asked what would have been on the news agenda had they not protested, as Susanna quickly stepped in to insist that the show's weather presenter Laura Tobin was a big advocate of raising awareness of climate change issues on the show. "I point you to a meteorologist who regularly..." the presenter tried to say as she spoke over the Just Stop Oil spokesperson.
"Sorry that is completely unjustified," she then added. "Laura Tobin discusses this in a way that is completely unrivalled amongst other broadcasters so I think that is a little unfair."
As things continued to get heated between the two hosts and the guest, GMB viewers took to social media to have their say. @IndeedItsMark tweeted: "Getting emotional and shouting is destroying any reasoned argument this cause may have. #GMB." @Gotmycrocs echoed: "When you start losing control during a debate, you know you’ve lost #GMB."
@OhhLaurenn shared: "The point you’re trying to get across is lost now through the aggression. Get to work #GMB." @donnaelaine17 commented: "That screeching wee boy screaming at Ed and Suzanna is giving me a headache. Switched off for 10mins."
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