GB News guest quotes Spitting Image sketch as a fact

Such journalistic rigour...

comedy Commentators on GB News appear to believe Spitting Image was a documentary.

A guest on the channel on Monday quoted a sketch from the satirical 1980s puppet show as a real anecdote about Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher’s former adviser Piers Pottinger related the skit about the former PM ordering food for her Cabinet as if a true story. In it she is sitting with her Cabinet at dinner and orders steak. ‘What about the vegetables?’ asks the waitress. ‘Oh, they'll have the same,’ she replies.

Host Andrew Pierce did at least acknowledge: ‘I don’t know if that story’s true, but it is a lovely story’.

Broadcaster Jenni Barnett quoted the same story on the channel later in the day as evidence of how ‘dangerous’ Thatcher was, but acknowledged it was from Spitting Image.

A Spitting Image scene from the 1980's has just been quoted as an anecdote about Margaret Thatcher. ????????????‍♂️ #GBNews pic.twitter.com/XrH0omh3Sm
— Karl (@Karl_Downey) March 18, 2024

Here's the original sketch:

The incident came on the day five episodes of GB News programmes presented by Tory MPs were found by Ofcom to have broken impartiality rules.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the 'minister for the 18th Century’ accused the regulator of being ‘old-fashioned’ following the censure.

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Published: 20 Mar 2024