Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised for plugging his memoir and plugging it during a guest appearance on Channel 4’s coverage of the US election.
Mr Johnson appeared on the coverage, at one point being grilled by Stormy Daniels about if he still considers Donald Trump his friend. He also revealed he had spoken to Mr Trump ‘quite recently’.
Just minutes into the live programme titled America Decides: US Presidential Election, co-host Krishnan Guru-Murthy 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 retorted: “There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me… I’m allowed to plug my book.”
The 60-year-old has been promoting his new memoir tiled Unleashed after it was released last month.
The 784-page book looks back on Mr Johnson’s time as prime minister – from 2019 to 2022 – including Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
Channel 4 newsreader Guru-Murthy is at the helm of 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, will join the hosts in the Washington DC studio as the American public decides whether Democratic nominee Kamala Harris or Mr Trump becomes president.
Guests on the programme include Republican supporter and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, and Stormy Daniels, the woman at the centre of Mr Trump’s hush money trial following an affair between the two.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said it’s a “beautiful thing” not to know what will happen in the US election.
The former UK prime minister, who appeared as a guest on Channel 4’s US Election coverage with British broadcasters Emily Maitlis and Krishnan Guru-Murthy, 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 former US president Donald Trump while he was prime minister of the UK, 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.”
