London, United Kingdom

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson's BBC interview has been cancelled after the presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally shared the briefing notes with him. 

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The British public service broadcaster was scheduled to conduct a prime-time interview at 7.30 pm on Thursday on BBC One. It was going to be Johnson’s first major interview since leaving office.  

Presenter and former BBC political editor Kuenssberg said she sent Johnson the notes "in a message meant for my team”. She said that it was “embarrassing and disappointing”, adding that the error meant it was “not right for the interview to go ahead”.

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“While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. That obviously means it’s not right for the interview to go ahead," she said. 

“It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday," Kuenssberg added. 

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The former UK PM was expected to discuss Brexit, his government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, and the Partygate scandal. 

Also read: 'Outdated, abandoned, labyrinthine': Covid inquiry finds how UK's health system failed people during pandemic

As calls for the BBC to use another journalist prompted after the incident, other broadcasters and podcasters offered to do the interview in Kuenssberg’s place. Those volunteering on X to conduct the interview included Sky’s former political editor Adam Boulton, Tony Blair’s former director of communications Alastair Campbell, and the Channel 4 News presenters Cathy Newman and Krishnan Guru-Murthy.

The director of the think tank British Future, Sunder Katwala, also urged the BBC to find a replacement to conduct the interview. 

“Shouldn’t the BBC just get somebody else to do the interview on Friday or next week?” he posted on X. 

Boris Johnson served as the UK prime minister from 2019 to 2022 and has a memoir, Unleashed, being published next week.

A BBC spokesperson reported that the inadvertent move made the interview “untenable”, adding that both the BBC and Johnson’s team had agreed to cancel it.

(With inputs from agencies)