Good Morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls have shed more light on Martin Lewis ‘ambushing’ Kemi Badenoch live on air on the ITV show following a discussion about student loans
07:08, 24 Feb 2026Updated 07:08, 24 Feb 2026
Martin Lewis has since apologised (Image: ITV screengrab)
Good Morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls have shed more light on Martin Lewis ‘ambushing’ Kemi Badenoch live on air yesterday. Viewers were stunned when the MoneySavingExpert stormed on set.
During an interview with hosts Susanna and Ed, Kemi was discussing student loans. The presenters had introduced the conversation with Kemi, with Ed saying: “You want to cut the interest rate on student loans, and you’re going to pay for it by saying to 100,000 people who might be applying for that you call low value rip-off degrees, that they shouldn’t go to university, and the money you save from stopping them to go to university, you will then use to cut interest rates on loans.”
The presenter then walked in and told the politician: “If you want to help the middle earning students, the most important thing is the repayment threshold should have been increased.”
Martin walked on set and addressed Kemi directly(Image: ITV screengrab)
Kemi insisted she would be happy to discuss the issue with Martin, and as he started to leave, Susanna said: “I like the idea of you two now going and having a meeting to discuss proposals. Kemi Badenoch, thank you very much indeed for coming into the studio. And Martin, thank you very much indeed.”
“I’ve never had someone interrupt the interview from behind so that was very exciting,” Kemi said following the interview. Since then, Martin has issued an apology on Twitter.
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He wrote: “Dear @KemiBadenoch, apologies for gate crashing your @ GMB interview today. Student loans are so life-impacting that I wanted to ensure the key point was made – that financially, if not psychologically, the repayment threshold is a bigger issue than the interest. Thank you for being so courteous after the interruption – you handled it far better than I would have the other way round. I have asked my office to request a meeting, if you are available, to discuss this more calmly.”
Kemi later responded: “Hi @MartinSLewis, thank you. I really appreciate that, and honestly, don’t worry. I do love a feisty debate! It helps people understand what the real issues are.
“You and I agree on the principle: student loans have become a scam. It took me eight years to pay mine off. I made my last payment in 2011, and I remember how happy I was, and my debt was only £14,000. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a young person with £40,000 debt today. Whatever the Coalition government brought in back in 2012, it’s clearly not working for the world of 2026. So I’d genuinely love to come on your show and debate my plan vs yours.”
Today, on the Tuesday show, Ed and Susanna discussed the headlines surrounding the interview, with Ed quipped that both he and Susanna had thought it was Kemi’s team feeding her facts rather than Martin.
“I thought she handled it brilliantly,” they both agreed, with Ed adding: “Every other politician I know would be so angry. Afterwards, she was totally cool about it. She accepted the apology backstage.”