Phil Jones challenged Express columnist Carole Malone over tabloid stories of asylum seekers living in four-star hotels with room service

A furious row erupted on The Jeremy Vine Show as Phil Jones clashed with Carole Malone over tabloid stories of asylum seekers living it up in “four-star hotels” with room service. The debate topic centred around where channel migrants should be housed in the UK, with Phil arguing that there are lots of “myths” surrounding the so-called “luxury” hotels. Meanwhile, Carole shot back that one of the properties is a four-star hotel in Canary Wharf in London. Phil said: “There are so many exaggerations.” She shot back: “No – you can’t say that! Canary Wharf, I have been in that hotel – pretty luxurious.” Phil then added: “They’re repurposed to fit lots of people in. They’re not the four-star hotels we are or you might stay in when we go on holiday.”

Carole then criticised Phil and said he was “living in a different world,” saying that four-star hotels are “luxury.” Phil then argued that the asylum seekers do not get room service, with Carole interupting: “They get three meals a day!”

Carole Malone clashed with Phil Jones over ‘luxury’ migrant hotels (Image: Channel 5 / X)

One person on X argued: “There are videos on here filmed by people who have sneaked into these hotels. They’re luxurious.” A second person disagreed and said: “They are not living it up in that sense. But they do get a warm, safe roof over their heads, that’s not a tent. Do any other countries offer this?”

In other news, a TalkTV guest expressed her frustration over reports that children as young as five are being “asked to write Valentine’s Day cards to migrants and asylum seekers”.

Last week, it was reported that pupils at schools across the UK were asked to ‘send messages of love and solidarity’ on February 14 last year by creating handmade cards.

It was also claimed that the cards had slogans such as ‘you’re welcome here!’ and ‘I love refugee rights, stop the Rwanda scheme’. Many of the cards also reportedly included an orange heart symbol, which symbolises compassion for people fleeing war.

On TalkTV, Connie Shaw from the Free Speech Union weighed in on the topic and said: “I think it’s grooming. Children should not be writing Valentine’s Day cards to any men, regardless of where they’re from.”