The GB News presenter was forced to intervene after tensions began to rise on the lunchtime show.

GB News erupted in a heated Keir Starmer row about a British activist’s return to the UK (Image: GB News)

GB News erupted into chaos as two guests locked horns over Keir Starmer’s comment following activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s return to Britain. On Friday (December 26), the prime minister said he was “delighted” that the British activist had been reunited with his loved ones in the UK. Historic posts have since emerged of Mr Abd El-Fattah calling for Zionists to be killed.

His comments have sparked uproar amongst his peers, with Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick arguing that Starmer’s “endorsement” of him showed poor judgment, claiming he had a “record of extremist statements about violence, Jews and the police.” It is understood that Sir Keir was not aware of the posts when he welcomed Mr Abd El-Fattah’s return.

After the controversial story hit the headlines, Eamonn Holmes welcomed political activist Alice Grant and Andy Twelves onto the show to get their thoughts.

Eamonn began: “We’re seeing Jewish people who are under siege in this country, they’re really, really frightened out of their own skins following the attack in Manchester and all that happened in Australia. But he has said specifically, really bad, horrible things.”

Andy jumped to Mr. Abd El-Fattah’s defence, arguing: “He said it back in 2013,” to which the presenter added, “He still said it.” The activist went on: “I think it was, and it was about Zionists, not Jewish people. There are plenty of Zionists and plenty of non-Zionist Jews. Zionism and Judaism are not the same thing, and I think he’s a citizen – that’s the top and bottom of it.

“These tweets were back in 2013, and James cleverly @ him on Twitter before he was granted citizenship, so they clearly knew what his social media was. He was granted his citizenship in 2021, so if they had an issue, they shouldn’t have given him citizenship.”

Alaa Abd El-Fattah returned to the UK after he was released from prison in Egypt (Image: AP)

It was at this point that Alice argued against Mr. Abd El-Fattah’s return to British society following his controversial posts. She explained: “But I think this sort of retrospectivity of, ‘Well, they can do this,’ I don’t think that as an argument really stands.

“The issue is, whilst you can clearly sympathise with someone who’s been continuously imprisoned for over 10 years in a fascist regime, there are very serious concerns here as to his extremist views, particularly against citizens of this country.

“Now, we already have on our hands a massive issue with fundamentalism on Islamic sides, and we do not need that problem to be exacerbated by people who show no remorse or no repentance for views which are extremely offensive and imbued with hatred.”

She went on: “If he is prepared to come out and say, ‘I do not agree with what I said in these statements. I only wish goodwill for a country that is accepting me and is providing safety for me after a terrible experience, then that’s understandable.

“But I think the British people are absolutely sick of people coming here with absolutely no sense of gratitude for what this nation provides, and we are very happy to do so, but people need to be willing to integrate into our society.”

Political activist Andy Twelves insisted the British public wouldn’t care about Mr Abd El-Fattah’s historic tweets (Image: GB News)

At this point, Mr Twelves began speaking over his guest star, insisting that John Smith down the road wouldn’t care about Mr Abd El-Fattah’s return. He fumed: “I genuinely don’t think the British public cares about a British citizen who was freed from Egypt and said some stupid, nasty things on Twitter over a decade ago. I don’t think the British people care.”

Ms Grant added: “I do, and I think the fact that we’re talking about it shows that it is a massive issue,” to which he snapped back with: “Just because we talk about it on the television doesn’t make it a massive issue, there are so many bigger things going on in the world.”

As the heated argument escalated, Eamonn asked: “Do they not care that he was put in the nick in Egypt, or do they not care that he’s coming back?” Dodging the question again, Andy Twelves replied: “I don’t think that they care that he said some stupid things on Twitter over a decade ago,” to which Holmes blunty added: “See now, Andy, I think that’s where you’re wrong.”

It didn’t take long before viewers flocked to social media to share their thoughts on the online dispute, with one user arguing: “Defending the indefensible – it’s not just Jews, el-Fattah is a homophobe – what’s the excuse for that???”

Another agreed: “Well said, Alice, he has no sense of gratitude, I would go even further & say he has forfeited his right to live in this country, his views are clearly not British!” A third fumed: “We are sick of OUR useless government GIVING away OUR hard-earned money to people who have never contributed ANYTHING to our system.”