Good Morning Britain aired a clip of an empty chair today - as a Tory MP said he was "too busy" to appear on the show.
It comes just a day after the Sue Gray report into Partygate was finally made public, with the 37 page report featuring multiple bombshells from the investigation as Boris Johnson took to the House of Commons to claim he’d been "vindicated" by the report as he told people it was time to "move on" from Partygate.
Keir Starmer, though, was incredibly critical of the PM and fumed: "They set the bar for his conduct lower than a snake's belly and now they expect us to congratulate him as he stumbles over it."
However, it appeared no Conservative MP was able to speak on Good Morning Britain today, as hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard showed a shot of an empty chair with the Westminster backdrop.
"Coming up, we're going to be joined by Labour's Lisa Nandy. We would love to speak to Stephen Barclay, Downing Street chief of staff. He is the man - the government minister - we normally speak to them around 8.30," Kate said.
"He's too busy this morning, we don't know why."
She added: "The chair is there for you Mr Barclay if you want to go and sit in it, we'd love to talk to you and hear all your points."
Fellow host Ben then added, as he made a direct plea to the MP: "We'll squeeze you in because of course, undoubtedly, our viewers and everyone at home will want to hear your points, especially today of all days."
Mr Johnson made a statement to the House yesterday, where he started by appearing to defend staff who were working "extremely long hours" and "doing their best" to help the country in the middle of the Covid pandemic.
"I'm trying to set out the context, not to mitigate or to absolve myself in any way," he also said.
He said he briefly attended gatherings to "thank them for their service" and "to keep morale as high as possible," as he added: "It's clear from what Sue Gray had to say that some of these gatherings then went on far longer than was necessary and they were clearly in breach of the rules and they fell foul of the rules. I had no knowledge of the subsequent proceedings as I simply wasn't there."
There have been multiple calls for Mr Johnson to resign over Partygate.
