Laura Kuenssberg has explained more about why a planned BBC interview with Boris Johnson could not go ahead – and revealed the “brighter side” after she said she accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes.
In her weekly newsletter, Kuenssberg, who presents the broadcaster’s Sunday politics show, addressed her recent “embarrassing mistake”, saying it was sad and frustrating that the sit-down chat with Mr Johnson – who she referred to as “one of the most consequential politicians of our time” – could not happen.
She said when preparing for an interview, she works with a “tiny group” of producers to figure out what the most important subjects of the conversation might be and then imagines how an interviewee might reply.
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“Doing the homework is vital, even if it’s a subject you already know a lot about – especially with a politician like Johnson, who is not always fond of answering questions,” Kuenssberg wrote.
She added that she regularly bins a lot of prepped questions but would “never, ever, tell the politician or any guest” them ahead of time.
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Johnson during a speech on the general election campaign trail in July. Pic: PA
“If they knew what was coming, they could prepare all their answers, and it would be a totally artificial exercise,” she said.
“Nor could we have changed our question subjects. If I hadn’t asked about Brexit, COVID, partygate, his resignation or his relationship with the truth, we simply wouldn’t have been doing our job.
“So, sadly and frustratingly, we just couldn’t go ahead.”
The interview by the BBC was set to be the first of a media round for the former prime minister to publicise his new book, Unleashed, which is released on 10 October.
Copies of Boris Johnson’s latest memoir. Pic: PA
It had been heavily promoted by the broadcaster for the past fortnight, but the BBC’s press team said sharing of the notes now makes the conversation “untenable”.
Finding the “brighter side” in what Kuenssberg referred to on Wednesday as an “embarrassing” error, she said other people had been in touch to share their own gaffes.
Kuenssberg said in one example, “a former government adviser messaged what she thought was her colleague, complaining that the cabinet minister she worked for was in ‘a right grump’. Except, unfortunately, she sent it to, yes, the actual cabinet minister”.
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Another example Kuenssberg gave is said to have included a former prime minister of another country accidentally being sent an email in which they were called a “very bad word”. The parliamentary staffer in question said the prime minister then read the email during PMQs.