Snow attacked live on air for his ‘Tory slur’

JON Snow was taken to task on live TV last night for his alleged four-letter attack on the Conservatives.

The Channel 4 news presenter is accused of joining in a chant of ‘f*** the Tories’ at Glastonbury music festival last week.

While Snow claims to have ‘no recollection’ of the incident, he was nonetheless put on the spot live on air last night.

The embarrassment came at the end of an item on the Channel 4 News, in which the question was posed: ‘Is there the political will to take on inequality?’

Three panel members gave views for and against the success of austerity before Snow brought the discussion to a close. He said: ‘We certainly haven’t resolved the problem here. But we certainly aired it.’

Before he could move on to the next item, Snow was interrupted by Matt Kilcoyne of the Right-wing Adam Smith Institute.

He told the presenter: ‘But not everyone hates the Tories as much as you do.’

Although he was off-screen at the time, Snow’s surprise was all too evident.

He replied: ‘You can say that but that is actually a very unpleasant thing to have done.’ Viewers took to Twitter to back Mr Kilcoyne. Bev Fisher wrote: ‘You said what many of us were thinking. Thanks for that lad. Jon Snow just sounded petulant.’

Nick Swatton added: ‘Jon Snow should retire with whatever he has left of his self respect.’ But others came to Snow’s defence. Gordon Profit wrote: ‘Utterly disgraceful what he said to Jon Snow. Well done, Jon, for putting him in his place.’

Earlier this week MPs called for Snow to be sacked after the alleged slur.

The 69-year-old, one of Channel 4’s biggest names, is said to have told revellers ‘I’m supposed to be neutral’ after the chant. Although Ofcom rules on impartiality do not govern what journalists can say in their own time, it is unusual for prominent newsreaders or reporters to make their political affiliations known.

Following the allegation, Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said: ‘His position as a serious political interviewer is untenable after that vociferous, deeply offensive outburst. It is time for Channel 4 to tell Jon Snow where to go.’

In his defence, Snow said: ‘After a day at Glastonbury I can honestly say I have no recollection of what was chanted, sung or who I took over 1,000 selfies with.’