Have I Got News For You viewers were left less than impressed on Friday night as Baroness Ruth Davidson appeared on the show. It wasn’t long before people watching took to Twitter to make their feelings known about the line-up.
@HarryBowe6 said: “So #HIGNFY has switched its original host because of pre-election impartiality worries but still has @RuthDavidsonPC as a guest.”
@JaneEMCallaghan added: “Erm Ruth Davidson taking free shots at snp isn’t my idea of “balance” #hignfy.” (sic)
@SmallGarry commented: “That’s Have I Got News For You switched off … Ruth Davidson on click off !!!!!” @RoyBertram4 said: “Nae watching “have I got news for you” tonight as never spoken the Ruth Davidson is on.” (sic)
Although some viewers loved seeing Ruth on the programme and found the episode hilarious.
@girlyswotspider commented: “Have I got News for You. 2 minutes in and I’m already CRYING WITH LAUGHTER.”
During the episode, host Phil Wang informed viewers they had to be careful about balance, due to the upcoming election.
Although Ian Hislop hit back: “Why have we got a Tory Baroness on then?”
As the audience laughed, Phil jokingly shook his head and signalled for Ian to stop talking as Ruth chuckled at the jibe.
Originally, Amol Rajan was due to host the BBC show, however, with the announcement of the upcoming UK general election, he was replaced by comedian Phil Wang.
The switch-up was due to the BBC Radio 4 presenter being unable to take the role given the BBC’s impartiality guidelines in the run-up to an election.
Phil made light of being a guest host within minutes as he poked fun over how he was given the role
He said: “I got this gig last night… first time hosting, very excited. The originally planned host had to be cancelled for impartiality things ’cause the election was announced yesterday.”
“Which, I think makes me the only person I know who’s benefitted from Rishi Sunak‘s premiership!”
During the show, they touched on the Prime Minister’s announcement outside of number 10 earlier in the week revealing there would be a general election in the UK on July 4.
However, the weather wasn’t on his side as Sunak got drenched due to the heavy downspout of rain.
Speaking about the announcement, Ruth said: “The one thing that a Prime Minister has in their locker is that they get to choose the exact timing and the manner in which you call for an election, so you really get to nail the announcement.
“You can just sort of tell that once the door shut behind him, all you could hear was ‘arrggggghhh!’”.
Have I Got News For You is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.