With a week to go until a new prime minister enters 10 Downing Street, the frontrunner Liz Truss has been criticised so far for limiting her media appearances – instead focussing on meeting the membership and making plans for government. So her decision to belatedly agree to a BBC interview with Nick Robinson won her praise. As the former BBC political editor wrote in this week’s Spectator: ‘[Viewers] want to see and hear their leaders questioned, challenged and tested about the decisions which shape their lives. Credit to Truss and Sunak for agreeing to just that.’
Alas, it appears Robinson spoke too soon. This evening the BBC has announced that Truss has pulled out of the interview which was scheduled for prime time on Tuesday evening. A BBC spokesperson said:
‘Liz Truss has cancelled her BBC One interview with Nick Robinson which was due to air this Tuesday evening (30th August) at 7 pm. Ms Truss’ team say she can no longer spare the time to appear on “Our Next Prime Minister”. The other candidate for the Conservative leadership, Rishi Sunak, was interviewed by Nick on 10th August. We regret that it has not been possible to do an in depth interview with both candidates despite having reached agreement to do so.’
Is Truss running scared? Mr S hears BBC staff are incandescent with rage at the last minute drop out. Meanwhile, a source on the Sunak campaign says it suggests ‘Truss doesn’t have a plan at all or the plan she has falls far short of the challenges we face this winter’. Ultimately the interview was so late on in the contest, even a bad performance would likely have had limited impact – many members have voted already. So, what’s behind the cancellation? Truss does not want to reveal her plan to deal with the cost of living crisis before the contest is over so aides could have concluded that evading such questions for 30 minutes would have been painful for all concerned. However, given this has always been her position, pulling out of the primetime slot at just 24 hours notice doesn’t exactly scream competence…
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