Boris Johnson 'fired' from Channel 4 US election coverage for plugging book, co-host says
Boris Johnson was “fired for banging on about his book” during a guest appearance on a British TV channel’s coverage of the US election, according to the program’s co-host.
The former UK prime minister was told off repeatedly for holding up his memoir and plugging it just minutes into Channel 4’s live program America Decides: US Presidential Election.
While his co-panellists — including Carol Moseley Braun, the first African-American woman elected to the US Senate, who sat beside him at the desk — initially laughed off his antics, the hosts soon grew tired of the former Tory leader’s shameless self promotion.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy told Johnson to “put it away” and “stop it, enough” as he twice referenced his new book and attempted to hold it up to viewers.
Guru-Murthy described the former prime minister’s actions as “so cheap” but Johnson was defiant.
“There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me ... I’m allowed to plug my book,” he said.
Later during the panel discussion, Johnson said he met with former US president Donald Trump after his attempted assassination in July.
“In case I failed to mention this, I am promoting my book Unleashed, and I had a talk with him about Ukraine,” Johnson said.
When asked about following in Trump’s footsteps regarding a political comeback Johnson said: “The answer is obviously contained in Unleashed where you’ll find the full discussion of this subject.”
This earned a rebuke from co-host Emily Maitlis.
“We are not all going to read your book, so just tell us, do you want to have a political comeback .... you can’t actually answer a single question,” she said.
Later in the program, Johnson was replaced on the Channel 4 panel by Michael Cohen, who served as a lawyer to former president Trump.
“Boris Johnson has been fired for banging on about his book,” Guru-Murphy told viewers.
It is not clear whether his exit was planned or if he had been dismissed early.
Sixty-year-old Johnson’s 784-page memoir looks back on his time as prime minister - from 2019 to 2022 - including Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other guests on the Channel 4 program include Republican supporter and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, and Stormy Daniels, the woman at the centre of Trump’s hush money trial following an affair between the two.
