Zia Yusuf And Alastair Campbell Call Each Other Liars In Furious Question Time Spat

Zia Yusuf and Alastair Campbell accused one another of being liars in a furious clash over Brexit and Iraq on BBC Question Time. Podcaster Campbell, a spin doctor who used to work for New Labour , took aim at Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson for ever supporting Brexit during a question about the possibility of re-adopting the EU’s freedom of movement. The co-host of The Rest Is Politics gestured towards Yusuf and said some people in the pro-Leave camp had “sold something on a pack of lies and never been held accountable for it”.

As Yusuf tried to interrupt and the men spoke over one another, presenter Fiona Bruce had to put her hands out to stop them arguing across the panel. The Reform politician also claimed Campbell had “told some of the most consequential lies in the history of this country” after Tony Blair claimed Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein had active weapons of mass destruction. Yusuf added: “If there was any justice in this world, you and Tony Blair would be in jail.”

But Campbell replied there had been six inquiries but “not one of them found that we lied” and added that Blair was re-elected after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He also claimed that Brexit has reduced the UK economy by six to eight per cent and noted Yusuf was in the Conservatives when the party supported the Iraq war. Campbell added: “Now I know you’re in Reform, but you’ll jump on any bandwagon.” Yusuf insisted that he had marched against the war as a child.

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper then spoke across the rowing men to tell the room: “How depressing it is that we have a cost of living emergency in this country. “And I’m afraid we are hearing a debate which is not just re-running the arguments of the Brexit war but also the Iraq war.” Campbell said this was because Yusuf had “nothing to say about what was happening now”. Presenter Bruce then cut in: “I hate to be a bore, but does anyone actually want to answer the question?”

Yusuf later clipped up their clash on shared it on X along with the caption: “Alastair Campbell did not appear to enjoy being called a war criminal to his face: The truth hurts.” Campbell replied: “I have heard it from far better people than you and they were wrong too. What I enjoyed was seeing you running away from an argument about Brexit because you would rather talk about anything else. “And I loved the smile being wiped from your face when the young woman tore apart your net zero BS.

You’ve not nice suits and nice shoes but you’ve got more chance captaining the Sri Lankan cricket team than you have of becoming Home Secretary.” During another question on the UK’s approach to net zero, one member of the audience said: “I cannot believe after the summer we have had, people on this panel are talking about scrapping net zero.” Yusuf smiled while the rest of the audience clapped enthusiastically. Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy.

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