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Politics
Liam O'Dell
Apr 30, 2022
BBC presenter accidentally says Boris Johnson ‘spent his first night in prison’
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast co-presenter Naga Munchetty likely made the dreams of some Tory critics reality on Saturday – albeit for a few seconds – when she claimed Boris Johnson “spent his first night in prison” yesterday.
The obvious blunder occurred after the broadcaster confused the prime minister with former tennis champion Boris Becker, who was jailed for two years and six months on Friday for hiding assets to avoid paying his debts.
Becker was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act earlier this month, breaking the terms of his bankruptcy which was declared in 2017.
Rebecca Chalkley, prosecuting, said the jury had found the sportsman had acted “deliberately and dishonestly” and that Mr Becker “is still seeking to blame others when it was obviously his duty”.
Easy to see why Ms Munchetty got confused, to be honest.
Boris – Johnson, that is – has clearly not been imprisoned, but did become the first prime minister to have been found to have broken the law after receiving a police fine over Partygate.
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Nevertheless, Twitter was soon full of users hoping it wasn’t an unfortunate mispronunciation:
YES NAGA! USE THAT NEW MOON ENERGY TO MANIFEST THE NEWS WE WANThttps://twitter.com/GaryPanton/status/1520315539691876353\u00a0\u2026— Melinda Salisbury (@Melinda Salisbury) 1651306552
Freudian slip from @TVNaga01 on @BBCBreakfast saying \u201c3 times Wimbledon champion Boris Johnson\u201d is in prison pic.twitter.com/Vx2kiGc2E3— Sarat Pediredla \ud83e\udd94 (he/him) (@Sarat Pediredla \ud83e\udd94 (he/him)) 1651306515
Naga Munchetty has just said on BBC breakfast that Boris Johnson has just spent his first night in prison. I was about to crack open the champagne when I realised she meant Boris Becker. Freudian slip Naga??— Elizabeth Hopkins (@Elizabeth Hopkins) 1651306278
that joyous moment Naga tell us what we really want to hear\u2026\n@campbellclaretpic.twitter.com/Bmi3jFonsT— ianmrobbo (@ianmrobbo) 1651306388
If only Naga if only pic.twitter.com/rYu2120IBx— Scott McGovern (@Scott McGovern) 1651306269
Ms Munchetty’s slip of the tongue comes just hours after ‘Wrong Boris’ trended on Twitter, as users argued it was another person with the same name they wanted to see behind bars:
Boris Becker faked bankruptcy & was jailed\n\nBoris Johnson conspired to beat up a journalist, unlawfully closed parliament, presided over 175,000 deaths, handed billions in covid contracts to tory donors, broke the law in Downing Street & is still at liberty\n\nWrong Borispic.twitter.com/hAXMZh3Wy4— European Unity #FBPE \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 #JohnsonOut #Rejoin (@European Unity #FBPE \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 #JohnsonOut #Rejoin) 1651255622
They\u2019ve jailed the wrong Boris.https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/29/boris-becker-jailed-two-years-for-hiding-assets-after-bankruptcy\u00a0\u2026— Tim Walker (@Tim Walker) 1651247174
The Wrong Boris— John Crace (@John Crace) 1651248429
As stated previously, we’d like to point out that Mr Johnson is not in jail, rather he is still running the country – unfortunately.
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