Susanna Reid tells Boris Johnson how he should have answered her question about Elsie

Boris Johnson's interview with Susanna Reid yesterday didn't exactly make him seem endearing.

As well as revealing he doesn't know who Lorraine Kelly is, the PM put his foot in it when asked about a pensioner who rides buses all day to stay warm and avoid heating her home by boasting that he was responsible for free bus passes enabling her to do so.

Speaking to LBC after her Good Morning Britain interview with the prime minister, Reid made it clear she would have approached the question differently. She said: "I would say for any prime minister, any party leader who deals with a difficult case like that the answer is not to just to revert to 'we're going to invest for the long term, we're making sure people have got jobs, we've got this fund over there which can help'

"The answer is to say 'that sounds dreadful for Elsie, I'd like to find out more about it and if she would let me I would get in touch with Elise as prime minister and I'd find out exactly what that means and let's see how we can help her'. That's the answer."

During the interview, Reid had raised the case of the 77-year old widow named Elsie who lives in a council house. She said that her energy bills have increased from £17 a month to £85 meaning she will pay £816 more a year.

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To cut costs, she has "resorted to eating one meal a day" and is "losing weight". "She goes to the supermarket at the end of the day to buy yellow stickered discounted items, she gets up early in the morning to use her freedom bus pass to stay on buses all day to avoid energy at home," Reid said.

Johnson replied: "Just to remind you, the 24-hour freedom bus pass was something that I actually introduced."

"Marvellous so Elsie should be grateful to you for her bus pass," Reid quipped back, before Johnson added:

“We are making sure we take the steps now to invest in our energy supply to make sure we have help in the medium and long term."

Meanwhile, the PM also dodged questions on Partygate, maintained he was honest, and defended the government over its process for accepting Ukraine refugees.

Seems like he has lost Reid's vote.

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