Piers Morgan interviewed the politician on Good Morning Britain following the news that Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigned amid the Windrush scandal.
Appearing via video link, Diane faced a series of questions from Morgan joined by Susanna Reid on immigration and illegal immigrants.
Piers probed Diane on Labour’s policy as she failed to give him a direct answer.
He exclaimed: “Well we spent the first half of the interview talking about that and I don’t think it’s unreasonable given the recent scandal to ask the shadow home secretary what your immigration policy is.
“You don’t want to answer for reasons that are your right of course, but I think viewers might be interested in knowing what your opinion is.”
However, Diane then became defensive as she said: ”No, no, no Piers.”
Piers retorted: “I’m not trying to trap you. I’m just trying to ask you a simple question. What do we do about illegal immigrants in this country? Do we let them stay?
“Boris Johnson suggested amnesty but you said no to amnesty so the only logical fallout for no amnesty is that we get them all out of the country isn’t it?”
Diane continued: “The logical fall out is in, it’s to try and work towards an immigration and nationality department which is more fair and efficient.”
Piers then replied: “You keep saying that but Diane I am honestly trying to work out what Labour’s view of illegal immigrants is.
“I don’t know why you’re finding it hard to answer that question.”
Susanna Reid chimed in on the debate as she questioned: “You’ve already said that there should be targets?”
Diane stated: “Yeah, of course there has to be targets but for specific areas of Home Affairs for instance deporting foreign national prisoners.”
However, Piers was evidently baffled by the encounter as he turned to his co-host once the interview had finished and declared: “Well, I’m none the wiser.”
Piers later took the debate to Twitter where he addressed the politician.
He wrote: “I wasn’t trying to trick you @HackneyAbbott. It was a simple question: would Labour let illegal immigrants stay in Britain or deport them? You criticised Rudd for her failure to ‘get basic facts right’ yet couldn’t give me a straight factual answer to this fundamental question.”
Those watching at home appeared to agree with Piers and described the moment as “car-crash TV”.
“Diane Abbott on #GMB was cringeworthy! Imagine her as Home Sec she doesn’t even know what day it is,” one exclaimed.
Another added: “Car crash interview, how can @HackneyAbbott be a representative or spokesperson? Perfectly reasonable question and no one is any wiser #GMB #noideahowshehasajobinpolitics.”
“@piersmorgan trying to get Diane Abbott to answer a straight forward question on #GMB is hilarious,” a third stated.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
