Piers Morgan slammed as ‘the Grinch’ by Wes Streeting as Question Time panel laughs

Piers Morgan was last night branded “the Grinch” by Labour MP Wes Streeting on Question Time.

Laughters was heard as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care slammed the broadcaster and journalist amid a discussion about new homes.

Footage from Thursday’s edition – the last of the year – shows Morgan, 59, address the audience in Beckenham, south London, about the Government’s pledge to build 1.5 million houses in five years. However, the former presenter of Good Morning Britain bluntly says: “It is not going to happen, sorry Wes.”

But Streeting, 41, swiftly injects with: “Oh you really are the Grinch this Christmas, aren’t you,” to which laughter is heard among the panel which also featured Tory MP Nigel Huddleston, Scottish Liberal Democrats’s Christine Jardine author Emma Dabiri. Morgan retorts: “I don’t want to be the Grinch, it’s just not going to happen.. In the same way it didn’t happen with the Conservatives.”

Streeting, MP for Ilford North, again skewers Morgan with a dig at former prime minister Rishi Sunak, who was blasted earlier this year for agreeing to a £1,000 bet on whether deportation flights to Rwanda will get going before the election. In May, Morgan claimed Sunak lost the bet.

And Streeting made a jibe about this as the Labour politician continued to impress on the topical debate show, which later featured discussions about the Government’s recommendation of a 2.8% pay rise for public sector, and the development of health and social care in the UK. During this section, Streeting said his party will set out further plans for social care in the new year. He added: “Since the general election, just to recap, we have had fair pay agreements for care workers in the Employment Rights Bill, that will be the first fair pay agreements ever in our country. This will improve our ability to recruit and retain care workers and value them as care professionals.”

It was the last episode of the year but host Fiona Bruce reminded viewers the programme returns on January 16, and will be broadcast from Northampton. It then visits Stockport, Greater Manchester, for an edition on January 23.