ITV criticised after Balls interviews wife Cooper

ITV has been criticised after Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls interviewed his wife, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, on Monday's programme.

The former Labour MP and his co-host Kate Garraway interviewed Cooper following the recent wave of violent unrest across England.

Police officers have faced attacks in recent days, while shops have been broken into and cars set on fire.

In response to accusations that the interview represented a conflict of interest, an ITV spokesman told the BBC it considered its interviews "fair and duly impartial".

"Following a weekend of rioting and national unrest, GMB featured a range of interviews and discussion around this national emergency on today’s programme," the broadcaster told BBC News.

"[These] included James Cleverly, Shadow Home Secretary and Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary.

"We are satisfied that these interviews were balanced, fair and duly impartial."

The programme attracted criticism on social media after it aired, with some viewers suggesting it raised issues of bias and conflict of interest.

Deadline’s Jake Kanter posted on X: "'Still to come, the home secretary will be joining us shortly, who Ed of course is married to.' Actual words said this morning on a TV channel with a legal duty to impartiality.

"Baffling it was allowed to happen."

Other viewers described the dynamic of the interview as "absurd" and "untenable".

Over the last week, police have faced violence in Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Bristol, Bolton and other parts of the UK.

Shops and hotels have been broken into, while cars and bins have been set on fire and officers attacked.

The exchange on Monday's programme aired before the government’s emergency Cobra meeting. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has since announced a "standing army" of specialist police officers to tackle violent protests.

The unrest follows a stabbing attack in Southport last week in which three children attending a dance class were killed.

Balls and Cooper have been married since 1998, and have three children.

Earlier in the programme, Balls told Garraway he "had not seen [Cooper] at all in the last week", amid the fallout of the riots.

"When these events happen, and if you're the prime minister or the home secretary, it becomes pretty much 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so it's tough," he commented.

When Garraway replied: "So you have genuine questions you need answers to?" He said: "Absolutely."

After Garraway kicked off the interview, Balls said: "Can I ask, because we've talked about this a few times in the last few days, like many of our viewers will have done at home since those terrible killings in Southport, there have been identifiable individuals on social media, who have been inciting not just riots but violence.

"They've been using racist language. They've been using falsehoods about what happened in Southport.

"This is this is happening on the social media platforms. What can be done, what should be done now by the social media companies and the police and the Government to stop this happening, because it's been happening for a week?"

Balls also questioned Cooper on whether there has been a "two-tier approach" to policing, and if police have been "softer and more cautious" when policing the Gaza demonstrations, compared to a "tougher" approach over the last week.

Cooper replied that police have to operate "without fear or favour, whatever the kinds of crimes it is that they face".

Viewers have also criticised an earlier debate on the programme, between Balls, Garraway and Labour MP Zarah Sultana.

In the item, Sultana said the behaviour of riots should be considered Islamophobic as well as racist.

Nadine White, the Independent’s race correspondent, said Balls "sneered at her" in response, and criticised the rest of the panel, who she described as "white commentators with no lived experience of racism.

BBC News has contacted a spokesperson for Balls for comment.

Islamophobic slurs were heard in the unrest on Saturday and Sunday, and mosques and hotels reportedly housing migrants were targeted.

Balls was a Labour MP from 2005 to 2015, and acted as shadow chancellor. He became a TV personality after competing in Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.

Balls is one of several rotating hosts to have presented ITV's breakfast show in recent years, along with Richard Madeley, Adil Ray and Robert Rinder, following the departure of Piers Morgan.

He first appeared as a guest presenter on Good Morning Britain in 2021, and joined their rotating presenter line-up regularly the following year.