Susanna Reid has been praised for her handling of a heated clash with Reform MP Richard Tice over the record donations the party recently received.
Reid and her co-host Ed Balls questioned Tice over Reform being given £72 million in donations from crypto tycoons across two days.
When asked if he felt concerned that the money could influence the party’s policies, Reform deputy leader Tice replied: "I think the point is that you've got rules and regulations.
“These donations are more in accordance with the rules and regulations. And you've now got a hyperventilating hypocrisy from the socialists ruling this country, who are trying to change the rules retrospectively. It's not the fair way, it's not the British way.”
He was referring to Angela Rayner’s recent suggestion that a donations cap could come into place.
Reid pointed out: "Okay, but the question was the link between huge amounts of money and influence. You've just acknowledged in your answer that you believe huge amounts of money do influence policy."
She then noted that Labour gets donations from trade unions and openly considers itself “the party of the workers”.
The broadcaster asked: "Are you now saying that Reform UK is the party of cryptocurrency billionaire individuals?"
Tice insisted Reform is “actually the party of the workers" and had put pensioners and workers first in its proposed income tax policies.
Reid hit back: "Sorry, you've just said the millions of pounds of donations directly impact a party and its policies - you just said that!
“So if you've got two cryptocurrency billionaire individuals donating record amounts of money to Reform UK, what influence will that have on your policies?"
Later in the interview, Balls backed up his co-host, remarking: "Trouble is, Richard Tice, I don't think our viewers are gonna believe that if you just received £72million from two individuals - more than all the money spent by all the parties in the general election in 2024 - that that is money which is just going to be handed over to you with no strings attached."
He then read out Tice’s post on X from the weekend in which he said Reform is "at war" with the media right now.
"I always thought Richard Tice was the reasonable Tory disaffected guy who wanted to do politics in a good way, but you're now waging war against the media," Balls said.
Tice argued that the media had started a "war" after "libelling him" and "leaking" his bank statements and conversations, saying: "If they want to kill us off, we have to respond to that."
Reid replied: "I'm not sure, Richard Tice, that language like 'kill us off' and 'waging war' is appropriate in the circumstances you've just described in part of your interview.”
Viewers flooded social media to praise how Reid challenged the politician, with one writing: “God it was satisfying to watch her school Richard Tice just now.”
Another added: “Richard Tice is very argumentative, isn't he? The audacity!”
A third agreed with her questioning over whether donations would influence policy, writing: "But what do these guys want, Tice? Nobody is buying for a minute that it's just out of the generosity of their own heart.”
