Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Kay Burley asked 'what's wrong with you?' by Labour MP asked same question three times

'I'm going to answer you Kay, just calm down'

Heather Saul
Thursday 23 July 2015 19:34 BST
Comments
Just answer the question!
Just answer the question!

Kay Burley's interview with the Labour MP Dawn Butler quickly unravelled when the Sky presenter repeatedly asked the same question despite getting a coherent answer each time.

Butler was invited onto the network to discuss the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn winning the Labour leadership election after a number of MPs nominated him without actually wanting him to win.

Her interview quickly became as ridiculous as the situation itself when Burley asked Butler, one of the 35 MPs to nominate him, if she wanted Corbyn to win the leadership contest.

“I don’t think that Jeremy will win,” Butler's reply began, before Burley interjected by accusing her of evading the question.

“Yes, but I’m answering”, Butler said.

"No, you're not," Burley insisted. "No no, my question is, do you want him to win?", prompting Butler to tell Burley to “calm down” so could try to finish answering the question.

"So what I'm saying is," Butler continued, "I nominated Jeremy, I'm happy that I nominated him. I don't think he will win, the person that I'd like to win would be Andy."

There was a brief pause, before Burley asked: "Do you want him to win?"

And so it continued in this vein for almost three minutes.

It isn't the first time Burley's aggressive interviewing technique has been criticised. Her grilling of the Alton Tower's CEO during which she told him him she was "sure [the families of the injured] are not interested in your sympathy at this stage" after he apologised for an accident led to a petition calling for her sacking that was signed by more than 50,000 people.

Twitter was quick to react to the "bizarre" and "rude" exchange.

Eventually, Burley decided to move her line of questioning to whether Corbyn would be welcome in Burnham's shadow cabinet, with Burley repeatedly correcting Butler's statement that Burnham had said Corbyn would be welcome.

"No he didn't," said Burley, "he said he certainly would not have him as shadow chancellor."

Laughing, Butler was forced to remind her that there are other positions available within the cabinet: "What's wrong with you? Don't tell me he didn't say it because he did! He said it."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in