‘It seems slightly odd’: Lorraine Kelly says Boris Johnson hasn’t taken her up on interview offer
Prime minister infamously failed to recognise the name of the popular Scottish presenter earlier this year
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Your support makes all the difference.Lorraine Kelly has claimed that she has extended an offer to interview Boris Johnson, which he has yet to accept.
During Johnson’s May interview on Good Morning Britain with Susanna Reid, the prime minister notoriously asked, “Who’s Lorraine?” after Reid went to hand over the programme to Kelly’s eponymous breakfast show.
Reid replied: “Who’s Lorraine...? Lorraine’s a legend.”
The Scottish presenter told the Daily Mirror in a new interview: “I have met him a couple of times – but clearly I didn’t make much of an impression.
“But, absolutely, he can come on my show whenever he likes. We have asked him. But he hasn’t taken up our invitation so far.
“He’s probably the first prime minister I’ve not interviewed. David Cameron came on a few times and Theresa May, and the leaders of the opposition have many times.
“It’s strange. It seems slightly odd. But he hid in a fridge when Piers [Morgan] tried to talk to him. So maybe he doesn’t want to.”
The Good Morning Britain interview with Johnson at 10 Downing Street marked his first appearance on the ITV breakfast show since 2017 when he was foreign secretary.
He had fleetingly featured on the show in December 2019 when he walked away from cameras and appeared to hide in an industrial fridge in order to avoid engaging in an interview.
Following the “Who’s Lorraine?” remark, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson was quoted by The Guardian as saying that “as was clear, the Prime Minister was not fully across the ITV daytime line-up this morning” and also added, “you’ll appreciate he has a number of issues to deal with on his desk”.
Last month, Kelly sent a “special hello” to the prime minister as she took to the stage at the Bafta TV Awards to present the news coverage award, quipping: “Hello, and a special hello to Boris. I’m Lorraine. It’s lovely to see you.”
In the new interview, Kelly ruled out a stint on popular shows like Strictly Come Dancing, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! or Dancing on Ice.
“I get asked all the time and it’s kind people think of me. But I can’t dance, I can’t sing, and would rather eat my own bottom,” she said.
Last year she was made a CBE for services to broadcasting, journalism and charity.
Additional reporting by agencies
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