BBC Newsnight's Victoria Derbyshire snaps 'let me speak' at politician in fiery clash
Victoria Derbyshire was forced to stop Ben Habib from repeatedly talking over her during a fiery interview on Newsnight, where she told him "I'm asking the questions".
Victoria Derbyshire had to put her foot down during a fiery interview on BBC Newsnight with Reform UK's co-deputy leader Ben Habib, who tried to dominate the conversation.
In an evening filled with interruptions, Ben Habib, representing Nigel Farage's party alongside Dr David Bull, continuously overtalked Derbyshire and sidestepped topics during his Monday appearance. During a tense segment, he attempted to steer the dialogue away from NHS staff retention to immigration, which he dubbed the "elephant in the room".
However, Derbyshire was having none of it. Frustrated, she firmly interjected with "let me speak" and then asserted control by stating: "No, I'm going to pause you because I'm asking the questions if that's okay."
When Habib protested that he was being prevented from answering, Derbyshire swiftly countered: "I really am - you keep answering with a question back."
Mr Habib appeared visibly frustrated during a later segment when Derbyshire questioned him on the party's stance on the teaching of British history.
Ms Derbyshire stated: "I'm going to put this quote to you if I may, from David Olusoga, British historian.
"I asked him for his reaction to what you'd written in your manifesto. He said this to me: Striving for balance in history is illiterate. This is not economics - this is about fomenting divisions in order to win votes," reports the Mirror.
In response, Mr Habib retorted: "Absolute garbage! I'll tell you what foments division - it is so-called notion of diversity, equality and inclusion, which is the regulatory and legal framework that government has put in place in order to champion and celebrate ethnic minorities, religious minorities and transgender ideology and all that sort of thing, over and above and largely to the detriment of the majority of the people in this country."
"It is kind of a form of reverse racism. That's the kind of thing that needs to be got rid of, we would get rid of DEI and what we would require is that all people are recognised to be equal."
Newsnight airs every weekday from 10.30pm on BBC Two.
