I’ve always been quite fond of Rylan Clark. No, that isn’t quite true – when his terrifyingly toothsome grin appeared for the very first time on TV, as a contestant on The X Factor back in 2012, I did grimace at this apparently air-headed Katie Price-meets-General-Zod wannabe. As often happens with reality TV, despite what its critics say, prolonged time spent in his screen company revealed a quite different person. As he says in his own bio on X, ‘Started as a joke. Still laughing.’
This incident looks trivial. But I think it may be one of the most significant shifts in the Overton window on the illegal immigration issue
Pop music and Rylan were a match definitely not made in heaven, but television and Rylan were made for each other. He is a thoughtful, intelligent man and naturally amenable. He is both cosy and brainy, which makes him the natural heir to the Wogan crown. He is also not a mug, with Essex street smarts and a nose trained to sniff whiffs of windbaggery.
In the stultifyingly bland and conformist world of daytime television, now contaminated by the bien pensant opinions previously confined to the more elevated areas of programming, Rylan has always been a level above.
On yesterday’s edition of This Morning, co-host Rylan spoke calmly and thoughtfully about illegal immigration. This was portrayed as a ‘rant’, even by newspapers that might be inclined to agree with him, but it was not that. As anybody who watches Rylan would know, he is probably incapable of ranting. I will quote him at length to give you the correct impression.
He begins with a caveat.
‘This country is built on immigration. Legal immigration – a lot of the nurses, the doctors that saved my mum’s life, have come over here from other countries. They’re living a great life, they’re paying into the tax system, they’re helping this country thrive.’
So far, so ordinary. But then he continues:
‘I find it absolutely insane that all these people are risking their lives coming across the Channel. And when they get here, it does seem – and I think this is why a lot of Labour voters as well are saying there’s something wrong – it feels like, “Welcome, come on in … Here’s an iPad, here’s the NHS in the reception of your hotel, here’s three meals a day, here’s a games room in the hotel. Have a lovely time and welcome.”’
He went on, ‘There are people that have lived here all their lives that are struggling. They’re homeless. Let’s not even discuss our homeless. There are people living on the streets, veterans, all of this.’
He stressed he wasn’t simply ‘getting on a soapbox’, and acknowledged the high temperature of this particular hot potato. ‘Let me be honest, everyone’s going to have an opinion about this and you’re going to upset someone.’
Rylan Clark on illegal migration:
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) August 27, 2025
“there's something wrong here…here's the hotel, here's the phones, here's your iPad, here's three meals a day, have a lovely time.” Whilst Brits are “struggling, they're homeless.”
He’s right. If you disagree with him, you’re the extreme one. pic.twitter.com/W9spgH8ZPY
Indeed. The backlash was as severe as it was predictable, leading Rylan to issue a clarifying statement on X in the afternoon; ‘You can be pro-immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women. [I could give him a good argument back on that, but never mind.] You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. The list continues. Stop with this “putting everyone in a box” exercise and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on Twitter.’
Scrolling down the replies, most are supportive, but there are some real humdingers from people who still think it’s 2017 and that they can cancel anybody at will. ‘That’s all fine,’ splutters my favourite, ‘but that doesn’t excuse you going off on an ignorant, nonsensical rant on daytime TV. I will no longer be listening to you on BBC Radio 2, and I’ll be messaging my thoughts to the directors. I urge others to do the same.’
This incident looks trivial. But I think it may be one of the most significant shifts in the Overton window on the illegal immigration issue, something that might even enter the history books. You can picture it turning up as a clip in documentaries about the 2020s. Rylan merely expressed a widely held, perfectly reasonable view that you’ll hear everywhere except on television – but now, maybe, you might. It’s impossible to think of this happening even just a few weeks ago, but the unsayable is now sayable.
There is something of the weather vane to Rylan, just as there was with Wogan. Peculiar as it might seem for such a strikingly unusual fellow, there is an Everyman quality to him. Starmer and co. should be worried. When you’ve lost Rylan, you’ve lost the country.
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