Politics
Liam O'Dell
Oct 03, 2024
IndependentTV
Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor turned presenter of the channel’s flagship politics programme, won’t be having her interview with former prime minister Boris Johnson this week after all – simply because the journalist accidentally sent her briefing notes to him instead of her team.
Kuenssberg admitted the “embarrassing and disappointing” blunder on Wednesday (October 2) evening, a day before the journalist was meant to sit down with the Conservative commentator.
In a post on Twitter/X, she wrote: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead.
“It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy.”
The BBC has not yet confirmed if the interview with Johnson will now be rescheduled.
The unfortunate incident has since been met with both memes and scepticism online:
Others have suggested fellow BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire should carry out the interview in her place.
And broadcasters from rival news organisations have also offered to do the job instead.
While we won’t be seeing the Kuenssberg chat anytime soon, it’s likely we’ll spot Johnson in the media in the coming weeks, as the ex-PM, whose premiership was marred by scandals such as Partygate, will publish his memoir Unleashed next week.
Serialised in The Daily Mail in the run-up to its release, the book is reportedly set to see him share what he “really thinks” about his former chancellor Rishi Sunak (The Independent says he likens himself to Julius Caesar, while Sunak is compared to the Roman emperor’s assassin Brutus), why he believes French president Emmanuel Macron “weaponised” the small boats crisis, and make a U-turn on how he believes Covid first originated.
Unleashed is… well… ‘unleashed’ on October 10.
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