The news presenter shouted at guests “I’ve got a point to make, stop!”
GB News presenter Cristo struggled to host the panel (Image: GB News)
GB News descended into chaos when guests clashed over the UK government’s handling of small boats migrants. Presenter Cristo Foufas had to put a stop at the heated debate as they discussed the latest news that a third small boat reached the UK border during the May Bank Holiday.
Debating migrant policy in the studio, political commentator Aman Bhogal said: “Britain is not the dumping ground for the world’s illegal economic migrants. We really are not. These people have had multiple countries trapezing through Europe, trying to get to Britain. We are spending £300 every single day – housing them, feeding them, providing them with security – when we’re not doing the same for the residents of many of the villages and towns that Labour are dumping these people in and around. These are national security threats. We, the British people, are being made to pay for it.”
Jonathan Lis (left) and Aman Bhogal (right) clashed over the migrant crisis (Image: GB News)
Sitting on the other side of the table is asylum defender Jonathan Lis, who can be heard sighing before saying: “You’re calling these people ‘illegally coming migrants’. You have no idea what these people are. They are fleeing persecution, they are fleeing war. My ancestors were in that world, in that situation, and you have just dismissed that there’re legally coming migrants. It’s so sickening.”
Aman believed that the UK “punches way about its weight” and said human rights supporter are “bringing migrants to the country”. Jonathan disagreed and explained that the asylum processing system was set up for the government to issue refugee status.
Before Jonathan continued to elaborate, Aman interrupted and said: “Not 1,000 every weekend on a Bank Holiday. We cannot afford it, no.” He also said that the world conflicts in Lebanon, Jordan and more “are not our responsibilities”.
As they talked over each other, Cristo decided to stop the discussion, saying: “I’ve got a point to make, stop. Isn’t the point of this, that even if the numbers are 909, whatever, it goes to the crux of what drives British people made, and that is a perceived lack of fairness, that some people – whether they are genuine or not, whether economic or fleeing persecution, there’s a perception they’re gettig to the front of the queue, they’re getting resources by simply arriving. That’s what it drives people mad.”
He looked at Jonathan and said: “You must understand that, right?”
But the guest agreed to disagree, but said that’s not the case in the discussion. “What I find so extraordinary about this debate is that we always pride ourselves and our compassion in this country,” he added. “And then we just hate them when they come.”
Some viewers were sickened by Jonathan’s comments and had to “switch off” because of his “arrogant” behaviour. One said: “The problem is that while people’s (mainly men’s) asylum applications are being processed, which takes a very long time, they are able to participate in society at taxpayers’ expense. No one knows if they are criminals in their own country. No one knows if they are a threat.”
Another advised the presenter to maintain a “proper debate” on the show.
