Good Morning Britain gets 1,008 Ofcom complaints from viewers furious after Ben Shephard’s clash with Rishi Sunak

GOOD Morning Britain has racked up a staggering 1,008 complaints for an episode last week - and Piers Morgan wasn't even on.

Ben Shephard's clash with chancellor Rishi Sunak saw objections flying in to the TV watchdog after last Thursday's show.

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In it, he and the chancellor were locked in a fiery exchange over people who had been locked out of financial support.

Ofcom said this afternoon that it was unable to provide a breakdown of the complaints but said they related to "inaccuracies" in the interview.

Many are thought to be from viewers angry at the chancellor's remark that he had engaged with a campaign group representing people who say they have been excluded from access to Covid cash.

They insist that no such engagement had taken place.

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Shephard told the chancellor that some self-employed people had received "not a penny from the government" for nine months.

He brought up a tweet Sunak had posted that read: "You have not been forgotten. We will not leave you behind. We are all in this together."

The host, 45, added: "Unfortunately that's not true, is it?

"There are 2.9million people, nearly nine per cent of the workforce, that are currently excluded or forgotten about from all of these schemes.

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"For one reason or another they cannot get access to some of those schemes that you have put into place."

Sunak, 40, hit back: "I don't think that three million number is right and you've used it.

"It includes 1.5million people who do not qualify for the support scheme because they are not majority self-employed."

Ofcom told The Sun the complaints for that day's show - an unusually high amount for one exchange - related to the interview with Sunak but did not detail the precise nature of the objections.

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Others felt the chancellor had bungled the appearance, with one tweeting: "Sunak just demonstrated that he absolutely doesn’t understand how self employment works."

However, several tweeted in support of him during the interview, with one writing: "Rishi Sunak absolutely smashing it this morning. Ben and Susanna have been owned!"

Another posted: "Rishi Sunak came out very well from that interview..... not so much Ben and Susanna."