Labour MP calls Sky News’s Burley ‘a bit dim’

Sky News presenter Kay Burley is in the headlines again for her combative style after being bested in an on-air spat. Yesterday Burley, who earlier this year reduced Peter Andre to tears when she asked about his divorce, was accused of being "a bit dim" by Labour MP Chris Bryant.

Burley was interviewing Bryant about the Commons debate on the News of the World phone hacking story. But when she challenged the MP to provide evidence for his claim that phone hacking and other illegal techniques were "endemic" in the wider newspaper industry - and not just the News of the World, which is owned by Sky News proprietor Rupert Murdoch - he referred to a report by the Information Commissioner that identified more than 1,000 cases.

Burley asked: "So you are in a position to have listened to the debate and read the report and as a result you are content to say that on telly?"

An exasperated Bryant retorted: "I have just said that. You seem to be a bit dim, if you don't mind me saying so."

Later in the interview Burley suggested that Bryant could have avoided having his phone hacked if he had changed his PIN for his mobile's answering phone service. Denying that this was true, Bryant replied: "Don't lie, don't say what you don't know madam."

While news anchors such as John Humphrys, Jeremy Paxman and Jon Snow are lauded for their sometimes belligerent interviewing style, Burley's abrupt manner only serves to earn her enemies.

More than 880 complaints were made after she pushed Andre to the point of tears in February with a question about the role his ex-wife Katie Price's new husband Alex Reid would play in his children's lives.

Burley's critics accuse her of frequently being ill-prepared for her interviews, and a 9,000-member strong Facebook campaign, 'Sack Kay Burley!, has now sprung up. Yet with Burley making C-list celebrities cry and providing many of rolling news's more memorable moments, surely that is good enough reason for Sky News to keep her on? ·