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Boris Johnson was “fired” from Channel 4’s US election coverage after being criticised for plugging his book.
The former prime minister was booked to commentate on the results of the presidential race alongside Republican supporter and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, and Stormy Daniels, the woman at the centre of Mr Trump’s hush money trial.
But, after repeatedly shoe-horning in references to his memoirUnleashed, host Krishnan Guru-Murthy said Mr Johnson had been “fired for banging on about his book too much”.
Just minutes into America Decides: US Presidential Election, Mr Guru-Murthy had told Mr Johnson to “put it away” and “stop it, enough” as he twice referenced his new book and attempted to hold it up to viewers.
Guru-Murthy described the former prime minister’s actions as “so cheap”.
Mr Johnson hit back, saying: “There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me… I’m allowed to plug my book.” Eventually, Channel 4 replaced the former PM with Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former lawyer. It remains unclear if Mr Johnson’s exit was planned.
Elsewhere on the show, Mr Johnson was grilled by Ms Daniels about whether he still considers Mr Trump a friend. Mr Johnson revealed he had spoken to Mr Trump “quite recently”.
Co-host Emily Maitlis challenged Mr Johnson after the exchange in which Ms Daniels spoke of her court case and asked Mr Johnson if he had children.
Mr Trump faces sentencing later in November after he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over the payment of hush money to adult film actress Ms Daniels days before the 2016 election
Mr Johnson has been promoting his new memoir tiled Unleashed since its release last month.
The 784-page book looks back on his time as prime minister – from 2019 to 2022 – including Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
Guru-Murthy helmed the channel’s first overnight US election programme since 1992, alongside former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis.
Political pundits, and a number of famous faces including Mr Johnson joined the hosts in the Washington DC studio as the American public opted for Trump over Harris.
As last night’s coverage began, Mr Johnson said: “Nobody knows what is going to happen, it’s a fantastic thing, it’s a beautiful thing because there are countries where they have democratic elections where they know full well what is going to happen.”
Talking about working with Trump, Mr Johnson said: “I had a very interesting time working with Donald and there are clearly issues we don’t agree on,” referencing gun controls and female reproductive rights.
“We became friendly absolutely,” he continued. “The thing that really worries me right now is Ukraine and the future of democracy in that country. I think there is a risk whatever happens in this election that there will be a disaster in Ukraine.”
When asked, while he was in office, if he told Mr Trump it was wrong to chose “the path of election denialism” after his last attempt to reprise his role as president, Mr Johnson said: “Not only did I tell him, I told the whole world…I have a problem with it, with what he did.”
Later on Mr Johnson argued that Trump brought “peace and relative stability” during his tenure as US president, while Succession star Brian Cox described him as a “monster”.
“We have to make sure that he doesn’t get in because he is a monster, he really is,” Scottish actor Cox said of Mr Trump, as he appeared virtually from London.
“He’s crazy, he’s insane, he wants to be a dictator.
“…I think he’s lost it, quite frankly, I think he’s deeply mentally unstable and I think he has been for some time. This is not a man who should be the president of the United States, absolutely not.
“He’s unreliable, he’s a convicted felon, I’m horrified.”
