Emily Maitlis eviscerated Boris Johnson during a heated back-and-forth during Channel 4’s coverage of the US election.
As the votes for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were counted, Maitlis and Krishnan Guru-Murthy welcomed a rotating series of guests, including the former UK prime minister alongside Stormy Daniels and Succession actor Brian Cox, to debate the current state of politics in the US.
Johnson was present as a Trump supporter and, at one stage, Maitlis, who became a UK election night favourite after shutting down Nadine Dorries back in July, asked him about the “Trump-like behaviour” he “started importing” while he was prime minister.
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“You essentially started importing some of that Trump-like behaviour in Britain when you were prime minister,” she said, adding: “His disregard for institutions, his disregard for the rule of law, his denialism, which I think, I guess, was mirrored in your response to the privileges committee, your response to the parliament standards committee, your proroguing of parliament. This is all Trump-like behaviour.”
Johnson said, through laughter, that he “disagreed profoundly” and proceeded to promote his book in what would be the first of seven times in eight minutes.
Unimpressed, Maitlis told him: “I don’t know why it’s funny,” to which Johnson said he didn’t “accept” the analogy “at all” as he feels it is “very dangerous” to compare UK and US politics. He then steered the conversation to Brexit, but Maitlis shut this down.
“I don’t know why you’re talking about Brexit, you know precisely what we’re talking about,” the presenter said, before reeling off the fact that he rejected the Owen Paterson affair, where the former Conservative MP was found to have broken standards law, and quoted people as saying it’s a kangaroo court – a phrase describing an informal, unlawful, and often unfair court that doesn’t follow legal standards or justice.
Johnson acknowledged that he was wrong to have done so, and then steered the conversation to what he said was a successful response to Covid. Still, Maitlis was having none of it: “It’s nothing to do with that, you know it’s not to do with that – it’s about how you respond to institutions and people calling out your lies.”
Johnson then questioned Channel 4’s election coverage, calling it “a massively eschewed approach to a US election”, to which Maitlis said: “I’m asking you to account for your actions.”
Maitlis was then interested in knowing whether Johnson would be inspired by a Trump victory to launch his own political comeback, and Johnson told her that the answer “is obviously contained” in his new book.
Here, Maitlis hit back with what has been branded the “line of the night” as she replied: “We’re not all gonna read your book so just tell us: do you want to have a political comeback?”
Deflecting, Johnson wondered why he was being asked, with Guru-Murthy defending Maitlis’s choice of question. Maitlis also pointed out: “You haven’t answered a single question – it’s extraordinary.”
Jonson stated: “The answer is you shouldn’t do it unless you think you can be useful and, by the way, Emily, I’ve answered all your questions all night.”
Viewers heaped praise upon Maitlis for keeping at Johnson despite his attempts to steer the conversation in other directions, with some saying she had “eviscerated” him.
“I found this cathartic. Great grilling by Emily. And I love it that repeatedly nobody laughs at his stupid joking around,” one person wrote, with another adding: “This is what I love about Emily Maitlis. It doesn’t matter how important you think you are, she will get right to the heart of the issue and ask the direct questions.”
One viewer called the clip “eight minutes of someone destroying Johnson live on air”.
