Media criticised for ‘desperate’ questioning of Labour’s nuclear policy on Armistice Day

Two broadcasters have been criticised for their 'desperate' and 'needless' questioning of Jeremy Corbyn's nuclear weapons policy on Armistice Day.

'Would you press the button to kill millions?' is the is trite question usually obsessed over by people who have spent too much time playing call of duty. If a nuclear war starts, all of humanity suffers. Good answer by Emily Thornberry pic.twitter.com/A1XGblDdkZ

— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) November 11, 2019

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, was grilled by Good Morning Britain's Piers Morgan and BBC Radio 4 Today programme's Nick Robinson.

On Good Morning Britian, Piers Morgan was accused of "desperately trying to draw Emily Thornberry into a slanging match" over Brexit, and also "brow beating her over trident and trying to get her to say something controversial", according to one reaction on Twitter.

Morgan asked Thornberry: "Jeremy Corbyn has stated his position as - he would never use a nuclear weapon. If he is prime minister and you are foreign secretary, this could be very real in four to five weeks time. Would you use a nuclear weapon if you have to?"

Thornberry replied that generations of leaders have not made their position on using nuclear weapons clear, as "it's best for us not to say one way or the other whether we would use it or not".

Oh dear oh dear... Emily Thornberry is being given a needlessly hardtime on @BBCr4today . The idea that we might have a political leader who is RELUCTANT to go to war or use nuclear weapons is a bad thing beggars belief. (Sure it is not necessarily a good thing either, but...!)

— mary beard (@wmarybeard) November 11, 2019

She continued: "The use of a nuclear weapon is a decision on a level that no politician anywhere has to make it is completely out on its own. No one knows how or whether they would use it because it has such extraordinary force. Millions of people can be killed. It's impossible for any human to say."

Morgan was also criticised for asking Thornberry about Corbyn's views on apparently never supporting the armed forces, although it is the party's policy to provide better support if they are elected.

On Radio 4's Today programme, Nick Robinson was criticised further for asking whether the leader of the opposition had backed the Falklands war.

Robinson told Thornberry that Corbyn's questioning of NATO in furthering tensions between Russia and the UK and US and his opposition to nuclear weapons was "a failure to support our armed forces".

It's happened! We've finally reached the summit of moronic election debate. On #ArmisticeDay & days after the fall of the Berlin Wall & end of the Cold War - Emily Thornberry being unable to categorically state if Labour would use a Nuclear weapon, is apparently a bad thing. https://t.co/43F7pSFxqa

— Jd (@J_87d) November 11, 2019

He also criticised Corbyn's opposition to military intervention in Kosovo, Syria, and Libya, and his unwillingness to blame Russia for the Salisbury chemical attack until all the facts were known.

One Twitter user said: "On Armistice Day and days after the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War - Emily Thornberry being unable to categorically state if Labour would use a nuclear weapon, is apparently a bad thing."

#GMB #piersmorgan you have just made an argument with Emily Thornberry just to score a cheap point, your pro Tory prooganda. You know Labour makes sense yet have to make out they are bad to govern. Pathetic arguements.

— Fresh air enthusiast (@sunsetdadventur) November 11, 2019

#r4today Emily Thornberry asked whether @JeremyCorbyn had backed a war in Falklands in 1982. #radio4 bias in an election is shameful.
Propaganda persists with @BBCr4today peddling outright lies.
Corbyn wasn't an MP until 1983.

— Helen Pender (@quiscustodis) November 11, 2019

Shocking. Nick Robinson repeatedly harangues Emily Thornberry over Corbyn's opposition to the litany of disastrous UK military interventions — & the futile deaths of UK soldiers — in recent history & breezily refers to it as 'a failure to support our armed forces'. #r4today .

— Hicham Yezza (@HichamYezza) November 11, 2019

World gone mad. Hearing Nick Robinson badgering Emily Thornberry, 'WOULD Jeremy Corbyn use nuclear weapons?!' Come on mate! Are you HARD enough to detonate a thermonuclear device that will definitely wipe out humanity or are you a SOFTLAD?!

— Shaun Keaveny (@shaunwkeaveny) November 11, 2019

Woah, the #r4today programme really doesn't want Corbyn to become PM. The line of Nick Robinson's questioning to Emily Thornberry feels a bit desperate

— GiddyGoat (@Giddzer) November 11, 2019