GB News: Ofcom ‘must investigate’ as Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton suspended

GB News has suspended Dan Wootton after he laughed while Laurence Fox was making “vile” comments about a woman journalist.

A statement from the channel said: “GB News has suspended Dan Wootton following comments made on his programme by Laurence Fox last night.

“This follows our decision earlier today to formally suspend Mr Fox.

“We are conducting a full investigation.”

Fox tweeted a screenshot of Wootton apparently replying with laughing emojis in an exchange of texts.

Dan Wootton’s apology provoked a row with Fox, who revealed messages online that suggested he and Wootton had shared laughing emojis about the incident in private.

Wootton had said he could see how “inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments”.

He said he had reacted “out of shock and surprise in an off-guard moment while working out how to respond”.

“I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgment on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange. I know I should have done better. I’m devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family,” he added.

But Fox said “honesty is the best policy”, and published a messenger dialogue that began with: “Making you giggle is my weekly joy.”

The response followed: “You can imagine them freaking out in the gallery!!!!!”

Fox also claimed he had done a “pre-interview” with the channel “so they knew exactly what I intended to say”.

Fox has claimed people stop him in the street and “sometimes tearfully” tell him he speaks for the silent majority.

“Today I asked myself for the first time ever. What is the point in speaking for a silent majority?” he posted on social media.

He was widely mocked by other users.

The channel, an alt-right echo chamber, is still pure propaganda for cranky causes, and is unashamed at being presented by cranky rightist figures. These people and their irrational, myth-based views are dangerous, writes Sean O’Grady:

Two months ago, Dan Wootton said he had made “errors of judgment in the past”, while denying “criminal allegations”.

He claimed to be the victim of a “smear campaign” after he was accused of tricking men into sending him explicit images:

How did the actor best known as a sidekick in ITV’s inoffensive detective show Lewis fall so far, asks Katie Rosseinsky:

Furores such as this so often comes back to: ‘I don’t agree with you, therefore I’m going to tell you that you’ve made yourself unattractive to men’.

As if that’s the worst insult a woman could hear; that she’s not desirable to the sort of bloke she wouldn’t touch with a barge pole, writes Claire Cohen:

The furore over Fox’s comments plays into the hands of GB News’s critics, according to the presenter standing in for Dan Wootton on tonight’s show.

Mark Dolan said what had happened was “regrettable”.

“Unfortunately this awful episode plays into the hands of our critics,” he told viewers at the start of his show. “The people who would love to see the back of GB News. That mustn’t happen.”

He claimed the channel was for people who wanted debate and diversity of opinion. “That’s the GB News way. That didn’t happen last night. In the end, a hard lesson has been learnt. We have freedom of speech but not freedom from the fallout.”

He repeated his swipe at Fox’s remarks, saying: “Whether Laurence should stay on air is not my decision, and Dan’s absence tonight is also beyond my control.

“There is an investigation ongoing, but the comments made by Laurence in my view were sexist, misogynistic and, unusually, in the frenzied climate of the so-called culture wars, have been condemned across the political spectrum from left and right.”

Technology secretary Michelle Donelan has urged Ofcom to look into GB News after the broadcaster suspended presenters Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox.

The Conservative MP hit out at the “unacceptable and disgraceful way” the men behaved.

Ms Donelan told Sky News’s Politics Hub: “Ofcom really do need to look at this. I was quite shocked and taken aback by the level of the comments made and the response of Dan on that show.

“It was completely unacceptable.

“I’m glad that GB News took decisive action and suspended both of them quickly today but there needs to be the next stage now and Ofcom really needs to be looking at this.”

However, she said she would not “boycott” GB News and will still appear on the channel.