Boris Johnson will not participate in a Channel 4 News TV debate with Jeremy Corbyn. The general election TV debate was scheduled to take place this Sunday and was due to be moderated by Channel 4 News‘ Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
This was revealed by Louisa Compton, the commissioning editor for Channel 4 Dispatches, who tweeted her disappointment about the cancellation. In a tweet, she stated that “after many weeks of intense discussion, we were unable to secure agreement from @BorisJohnson team”.
The Prime Minister was initially willing to participate in the debate against Jeremy Corbyn. According to Krishnan Guru-Murthy, “Boris Johnson said he was in favour of debates”. However, Mr Guru-Murthy also added that Boris Johnson’s team “have been in detailed talks with us for weeks about format and rules right up until yesterday”.
When announcing the cancellation of the planned debate, Louisa Compton said that the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn had in fact agreed to participate in the scheduled debate.
Many people are interpreting Boris Johnson’s refusal to participate in the Channel 4 News debate as him running scared because of how well Jeremy Corbyn did on the ITV News debate. People were asked ‘how well or badly do you think each of the leaders performed in tonight’s debate?’ In response, two-thirds of respondents thought that Jeremy Corbyn did well, while only 59% of respondents thought that Boris Johnson did well, according to a YouGov poll.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 News‘ offer still stands according to their anchors and reporters. An alternative proposition came from Artist Taxi Driver who has requested Channel 4 News to empty chair him if he does not agree to participate in the debate: “I beg you empty chair him it’s the only way to hold them to account”.
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