Good Morning Britain viewers have been mocking Boris Johnson after he asked “who’s Lorraine?” at the end of his interview with Susanna Reid.
The prime minister appeared on GMB on Tuesday (3 May) for the first time in three years.
The last time he was on ITV’s daily news show, Johnson appeared to hide inside a fridge when he was approached by producer Jonathan Swain in Yorkshire for a TV interview.
At the end of the new interview, Reid went to hand over to Lorraine Kelly for her daytime programme, when Johnson interrupted her, saying: “Who’s Lorraine?”
Reid replied: “Who’s Lorraine…? Lorraine’s a legend.”
Johnson appeared to have misunderstood the situation, thinking he was being passed over to Kelly for another interview. “Fantastic, well I didn’t think I was talking to Lorraine, OK…” he muttered.
When Kelly appeared on the screen, she simply said: “Wow. Thank you, Susanna. A masterclass in a political interview.”
Viewers were not impressed, to say the least.
“I thought he was out of touch but this is stratospherically out of touch,” tweeted one person.
Another tweet read: “Downing St staff: ‘It’s ending. I think that went better than I thought.’ BoJo: ‘Who’s Lorraine?’ Downing St staff: ‘We. Are. F***ed.’”
One viewer called it “the final car-crash line” while another added: “Man of the people, @BorisJohnson, there... losing another few million votes on Thursday. Jolly good.”
Johnson was late for the interview, which took place in Downing Street’s study.
The interview covered sexism in parliament, party-gate investigations and the rising cost of living crisis.
Johnson has been heavily criticised for various aspects of the interview. At one point, Reid asked the prime minister what he would do to help pensioner Elsie who can’t afford to stay at home because keeping the heating on is too expensive, so instead she travels around London on the bus all day.
Johnson’s response was to proudly state that as London mayor he introduced the 24-hour Freedom Pass that allows people over 60 to travel for free.
He admitted that the financial support offered by his government is not enough to “help cover everybody” through the cost of living crisis in the months ahead.
