GB News sent a reporter to Greenpeace headquarters, accidentally giving them some “brilliant on-air publicity” in the process.
Ben Leo marched into the Greenpeace offices in London to quiz them on their protest at Rishi Sunak’s Yorkshire mansion on Thursday.
The video shows the reporter being asked to sit down before refusing and saying he's looking for the two executive directors.
While speaking to Areeba Hamid, he thanked Greenpeace for having him before she pointed out that “you weren’t invited”.
'It's disgusting!'
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 4, 2023
EXCLUSIVE: GB News' @benleo444 turns up at Greenpeace's London HQ to quiz them about their stunt at Rishi Sunak's family home in Yorkshire. pic.twitter.com/wWDEVjnqyN
Leo replied: “We weren’t invited. How ironic, were you invited to Rishi Sunak’s house this morning?”
He then proceeded to wander around the office, at one point making himself a cup of tea and asking who had come up with the idea to stage the protest.
The reporter also continually asked if they thought they would get the same reception had they staged the same protest at Chinese President Xi Jinping’s house.
He told Hamid the group had turned up at a “private man’s home”.
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Hamid replied: “It was a peaceful protest and the Prime Minister has allowed hundreds of new oil and gas licences.
“He wasn’t there. That was a matter of national news. We checked before going. We made sure there was nobody there. It was planned with utmost care, with care for security. He wasn’t there.”
Leo also spoke with Greenpeace UK’s other executive director Will McCallum and continued to plough on with his line about China, asking why the protest didn’t take place there instead.
McCallum told him to “do some research” as Greenpeace do a lot of work there.
Many took to Twitter to react to the clip with Otto English writing: “Hilarious. GB News sends hapless Ben Leo to Greenpeace HQ to own the wokes and gives them some brilliant on-air publicity by mistake.
“He keeps making the ‘why don’t you do this in China’ point like it’s a trump card. Sort of thing that probably goes down a storm in his Twitter.”
Another user commented: “This is seriously not a parody. This is GB News thinking they are getting their own back on Greenpeace but instead give them loads of free publicity.”
A third said you could tell the stunt “hadn’t been thought through” while another joked that the real problem came when Leo said he was making a cup of tea but then started pouring tap water into a mug.
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