Holly Willoughby felt the wrath of Ann Widdecombe as she attempted to stand up to her during a tense ‘This Morning’ interview on Wednesday’s show.
The presenter tried to challenge the former Tory MP on her controversial views on women’s rights and the #MeToo movement during the segment.
Ann had said she believed the playing field had tilted too far in the favour of women, and that she thought the Me Too movement had given rise to “trivial whinging”.
Holly put to her: “The Me Too movement you talked about earlier, hasn’t that give women a voice, finally - one that has been suppressed for such a long time. One that needed to come out, that actually, globally has made such a huge difference?”
Ann responded: “No, I do not believe that,”, before Holly quickly asked her why.
“I’m about to tell you if you’d have the patience. Are you auditioning for John Humphrey’s job or something? I once asked him if he was paid by the interruption.”
Holly couldn’t help but laugh and sigh at Ann’s comments, before the former MP went on: “I don’t actually think that it has achieved anything, except in the serious cases. They did need support, and that’s fine. But it has also given rise to some very trivial whinging.”
As the debate rumbled on, Ann tried to interrupt Holly’s co-host Phillip Schofield, but he quickly shot her down, insisting: ’No, no. It’s my turn.”
He continued: “Those women would say, ’Hang on, it wasn’t trivial to me. Human beings react in different ways.”
Ann is no stranger to controversy, having had her views on LGBT+ rights challenged during her appearance on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ earlier this year.
Drag artist Courtney Act attempted to calmly explain to Ann about same-sex marriage after she stayed insistent to her belief that marriage is between a man and woman.
During her time in parliament, Ann voted against LGBT+ progression on every occasion, including helping to pass Section 28 that banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in UK schools.
‘This Morning’ airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
