An interview with Boris Johnson due to air on BBC One on Thursday evening has been canceled after presenter Laura Kuenssberg said she had mistakenly sent the former British prime minister her briefing notes.
In one message on X On Wednesday evening, Kuenssberg — a mainstay at the broadcaster who currently hosts the weekend interview program “Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg” — called the misstep “embarrassing and disappointing.”
“While preparing for tomorrow’s interview with Boris Johnson, I accidentally sent our briefing notes to him in a message intended for my team. This obviously means that it is not good for the interview to continue,” Kuenssberg said in the post. “It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point in pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, because there are plenty of important questions to ask. But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you Sunday.”
The BBC confirmed this that the interview will not go ahead, saying: “As Laura explained, interview briefing notes intended for colleagues were accidentally shared with him. This makes an interview tomorrow untenable. In the circumstances, both the BBC and Mr Johnson’s team agree that this is the best way forward.”
Johnson has recently been making the press rounds to promote his upcoming memoir, “Unleashed.” The conservative politician was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 2019 to 2022 and is best known for implementing Brexit, Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. He resigned in 2022 after it emerged he had appointed Chris Pincher as head of the Conservative Party while aware of sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Johnson’s conversation with Kuenssberg, who has interviewed the politician several times, was teased as the first of his time as prime minister since leaving office. Replacement programs have not yet been confirmed.