BBC’s Boris Johnson Interview Canceled After Presenter Sent Notes

An interview with Boris Johnson set to broadcast on BBC One Thursday night has been canceled after presenter Laura Kuenssberg said she mistakenly sent the former U.K. prime minister her briefing notes.

In a post on X on Wednesday night, Kuenssberg — a mainstay at the broadcaster who currently hosts the weekend interview program “Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg” — called the misstep “embarrassing and disappointing.”

“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,” Kuenssberg said in the post. “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.”

The BBC confirmed that the interview won’t be going ahead, saying: “As Laura has explained, interview briefing notes meant for colleagues were inadvertently shared with him. This makes an interview tomorrow untenable. Under the circumstances, both the BBC and Mr Johnson’s team have agreed this is the best way forward.”

Johnson has been doing the press rounds recently to promote his upcoming memoir, “Unleashed.” The Conservative politician served as the U.K. prime minister from 2019 to 2022, and is best known for enacting Brexit, the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union. He resigned in 2022 after it was found that he appointed Chris Pincher as chief whip of the Conservative party while knowing about sexual misconduct allegations against him.

The BBC interview with Johnson had been teased as the first on his time as prime minister since his exit. Replacement programming has not yet been confirmed.