BBC Breakfast viewers fume at Jess Phillips’ appearance on show ‘flogging her book’

BBC Breakfast: Jess Phillips says politics is ‘still odd’

Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty hosted BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning and welcomed Labour MP Jess Phillips onto the show. Instead of commenting on any politics, Jess was on the show to promote her new book. But, some BBC viewers objected to her appearance on the programme.

Charlie and Naga welcomed the Labour MP on BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning.

Naga said: “Now plenty has been said about the gap between what goes on in parliament at Westminster and what goes on in the rest of the country.”

“Now the Labour MP Jess Phillips is trying to bridge some of the gap with a new book that sets out to explain what life is really like for our politicians and I’m very pleased to say she joins us on the sofa,” Charlie said.

He asked Jess how things were going and she replied: “I mean it’s weird still isn’t it? Parliament is weird in the same way that being here in the studio is quite weird.

READ MORE: BBC Breakfast viewers hit out over European flooding coverage

BBC Breakfast viewers fume at Jess Phillips’ appearance on show ‘flogging her book’ (Image: BBC)

Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty hosted BBC Breakfast on Saturday morning and welcomed Labour MP Jess Phillips onto the show. (Image: BBC)

“Politics is odd at the moment. Without question, it’s still stilted and unusual and not at all like it would be in normal times because we don’t see the people as much as well as we don’t see Westminster as much,” Jess explained.

She was on the show to promote her new book entitled Everything You Really Need to Know About Politics: My Life as an MP.

The book is set to give readers an insight into the daily life of a politician and will be released on July 21.

However, some viewers weren’t too happy to see the politician promoting her book on the BBC programme and took to Twitter to share their anger.

BBC Breakfast viewers have hit out at the morning show after MP Jess Phillips was interviewed about her new book. (Image: BBC)

One viewer fumed: “@BBCBreakfast I see you have Jess Phillips trying to sell her new book this morning. Why not wait a month until it appears in Poundland.”

“@jessphillips on #Bbcbreakfast flying the flag for #Labour? Oh no she isn’t, she is flogging her book that she wrote, in her spare time,” a second commented.

Another remarked: “#bbcbreakfast Through Covid I’ve hardly had a chance to do anything, not had a day off. Busy busy Jess saving the world found time to write & promote a book. Isn’t politics full time Jess?”

“Jess Phillips on BBC Breakfast. Seriously, is this anything other than a party political broadcast by the Jess for Labour Leader Campaign? Even including a montage of pictures of ‘Jess with the people’ while she’s talking for five minutes uninterrupted. @BBCBreakfast,” a fourth viewer wrote.

DON’T MISS…James Martin opens up on how ‘severe dyslexia’ became a ‘nightmare’ [MUST SEE]The Repair Shop guest ‘speechless’ at 1936 Olympic running shoes [INSIGHT]Game of Thrones’ Hodor star speaks out on final series [EXCLUSIVE]

Meanwhile, other viewers were pleased to see Jess on BBC Breakfast and praised the politician for her honesty about politics.

One viewer Tweeted: “@jessphillips Appearance on #BBCBreakfast was a refreshing and honest insight, it makes a change.”

“@jessphillips speaking on BBC Breakfast is like a breath of fresh air. #BBCBreakfast,” another fan added.

A third posted: “@jessphillips is on #BBCBreakfast,I suggest if you have a chance try & find the interview online & watch a very open, honest, refreshing interview.”

Speaking further to Jess about her new book, BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie said: “One of the things you’re very keen in the book to bring across is that question mark, that quite a lot of people think, what do MP’s do?”

“I mean what do you do all the time? We hear the noise in the Commons and there are certain issues that MP’s are known for getting involved in, as you have, things that are important to them. Then what about the rest of it?” Charlie asked.

“I think that the reason that I wanted to write the book was that my husband, when I became a politician, he’d never met a politician before.

“He was like ‘I had absolutely no idea of half of the things that you were meant to be doing’,” she explained.

Jess made it clear that there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes in politics than just what people see on TV.

“The thing that the public sees is a tiny fraction. It’s less than five percent of my job.

“So, the thing that we’re doing all the time is constantly negotiating. We’re much more in touch with the people than people think we are,” she added.

BBC Breakfast airs weekdays at 6am on BBC One.