Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha was left slightly red-faced on Thursday as her fellow panellists labelled her “boring”.
During the half-hour instalment of the ITV daytime show, the Loose Women discussed reports Keir Starmer has urged his shadow cabinet to stop calling him ‘boring’.
Host Charlene White was joined by Sunetra Sarker and Sophie Morgan as the panel talked over whether there is anything wrong with being referred to as ‘boring’.
Nadia asked if it was “the worst insult” somebody could be paid, saying: “If you heard someone say that, would that be the worst thing?”
Charlene then point-blank turned to Nadia and said: “You’re boring,” causing her to cringe and reply: “Just as you said that, it was really painful.”
Sunetra then joked replying: “If you overheard us say, should we invite boring Nadia?”
Nadia replied, going along with the joke: “She’s a bit boring,” as she pulled a horrified face.
Charlene then quipped the cheeky joke: “We do say that a lot,” leaving the panel in stitches.
Earlier in their conversation, Nadia sided with the notion that being described as ‘boring’ shouldn't be a negative thing.
She said: “There’s a lot of ‘Boris is so entertaining, he’s so funny’. I don’t want that from a leader.
“I want somebody that looks at the detail, that is sensible, that is honest, that is decent and looks after the economy and communicates well.
“All of this showmanship is great but where’s it got us? We’re in a mess.”
Sophie initially agreed, saying: “You could associate boring with dependable or reliable.
“If you think of all the other terms being thrown around to describe other politicians, there’s a lot worse – amoral, a liar.
“I would argue on the side of let’s be boring, focus on the right things and stop trying to distract people with jokes.”
She then added: “On the flip side, there is an argument that by trying to be a bit more fun and be a bit more engaging he might communicate a bit more effectively with a demographic that might be less engaged.”
Sunetra then added: “Nobody wants to be known as tedious and uninteresting, but I want the content of my leaders to be what’s important far more than their personality type.
“They’re not trying to be entertainers. I know they have to have a certain amount of confidence and public speaking, but if our leaders have stammers or stutters I wouldn’t have a problem as long as the content was worthy.”
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV
