Boris Johnson criticises Emily Maitlis's 'dangerous' questions during heated Channel 4 debate

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Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is known to have had a rapport with Donald Trump, sharply criticised journalist Emily Maitlis during a heated exchange over his relationship with the ex-president. He branded her questioning as "sloppy" and "dangerous".

The tension escalated when Emily questioned former adult film actress Stormy Daniels about her interactions with Trump and the threats she received after going public. "Stormy you wore a stab vest in court when you had to testify didn't you? Were you protected?" she asked.

Stormy responded: "Oh a bullet proof vest? I get all kinds of crazy threats all the time but sometimes one will stand out more than the others and it's not always the most violent or graphic one."

As Stormy spoke, Emily observed Boris shaking his head and remarked: "Mr Johnson you're kind of shaking your head, but this is coming from a man you've described as a friend."

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Boris quickly countered: "No not at all, I wasn't shaking my head at all," Emily corrected herself, saying, "No you're shaking your head in what I'm assuming is sorrow, in sympathy, and it's all very well directing him in foreign policy and telling him how he can sort out Ukraine, this is the man that people like Stormy Daniels are dealing with."

Boris was eager to convey his empathy and belief in Stormy's account, stating, "Let me first say that I think anyone watching this will have immense sympathy for Stormy."

"Everything that you feel and have been going through. Nobody should be threatened or feel threatened as part of the democratic process."

Boris Johnson attempted to steer the conversation towards foreign policy, stating, "And I'm afraid I don't know the ins and outs of much of what's happened. What I can say, the area in which I can speak with authority is about the foreign policy relationship."

However, Emily Maitlis persisted, pushing Boris to address the issue of character: "We're gonna put foreign policy aside and talk about character. There's no reason why you wouldn't know Stormy Daniels story because it's been absolutely public for years."

Stormy chimed in, describing how Trump's fans react to someone like her, reports the Express. Boris remained resolute, emphasising the importance of maintaining a good working relationship with the US President.

"And I understand that, but you see the job in the UK of the Prime Minister is to have a good close relationship, friendship with whoever is in the White House and it has to be operational and it did work," he said.

Stormy then posed a pointed question to Boris, asking if he would be concerned for the women in his life if they were alone with Trump. "So if you're the Prime Minister and you and Donald Trump got into a disagreement as people do with Donald Trump whether you're right or wrong. Would you have any fear for the ladies in your life? How do you feel about doxxing? " she asked.

Boris replied, "Nothing like that came up."

Stormy pressed on, inquiring if Boris would worry about his daughters or sisters being targeted. However, Boris remained resolute.

He clarified: "When you're talking to the US President, the relationship you have as the Prime Minister, is one of great formality and importance and of course you develop a friendship but actually and I can say this with all sincerity, in my time with him I never was treated with anything other than complete courteous and friendliness. Now you had a very different experience but I can only talk about my experience."

Emily interjected, asking: "But the question for a lot of our viewers tonight will be whether, you essentially started importing some of that Trump like behaviour into Britain when you were Prime Minister. His disregard for institutions, his disregard for the rule of law, his denialism, which I think was mirrored in your response to the privileges committee, your response to the Parliamentary standards committee, your proroguing of Parliament, this is all Trump like behaviour."

"Well there I obviously disagree profoundly as I detail in the book Unleashed," Boris retorted with a scoff. However, Emily did not take kindly to his light-hearted attempt to promote his new book, stating: "I don't know why it's funny, because I've just asked you what he's like as a character."

It was at this point that Boris criticised her line of questioning as "sloppy" and "dangerous".

He sternly stated: "Well no because I don't accept your analogy at all and I think it's very sloppy and dangerous to make analogies between the US and the UK in that kind of way."

Channel 4's esteemed host Krishnan Guru-Murthy, 54, waded into the discussion, querying Johnson with a pointed barb: "You didn't model yourself on him at all?"

Brushing past the prompt, Johnson diverged, saying: "And I think people compare Brexit with the advent of Donald Trump. Brexit was actually supported by people across the political spectrum."

Unsatisfied with the deflection, Emily Maitlis, also 54, pressed: "You're not answering the question. Just go back to the question."

Boris maintained his stance: "I'm answering the question directly. I believe in my administration we had complete respect for institutions. We had respect for the decision of the British people to leave the European Union. And unlike many people in the UK establishment who wanted to thwart that, we were determined to go ahead and deliver it. As we promised."

But Guru-Murthy wouldn’t let it slide, pointing out: "But you didn't respect the Parliamentary Committee and misled the Privileges Committee. That's not respect."

Refusing to budge, Boris declared: "17.4 million people voted for us to deliver it and we did."

The verbal sparring continued with Maitlis challenging: "I don't know why you're talking about Brexit because you know exactly what we're talking about."

To which Boris firmly responded: "Because you're talking about an analogy which I reject between the US and the UK."

Emily continued: "No, we're talking about the Owen Patterson affair where he was found to have broken standards law by I think it was Kathleen Stone and you rejected that and then you rejected that. You quoted people saying it's a Kangaroo court."

"If you read unleashed you will see I put my hands up to that I think we made a mistake we took the wrong and then we then corrected it."

He replied. "But my strong belief when you talk about partygate, when you talk about what happened in the covid pandemic. I happen to think the UK government did an outstanding job."

But Emily reaffirmed that the discussion was "nothing to do with that" and was about how Boris responded to institution" she said that it was "people calling out your [Boris's] lies that's what this is about.

Boris bounced back saying that he "rejected that". "Here you all are," he said, "Here's Channel 4 News run by Ian Katz sitting here doing the same old stunt that you tried in 2004 where you're taking a massively asked approach to a US election."

"I'm asking you to account for your actions." Emily said.

Boris pointed out that he was "not standing for election here".

Bringing the conversation back around to Donald's character Stormy asked the Conservative: "Do you have children? Would you leave your daughter alone with Donald Trump?

"Well I don't see why not." He replied.

Krishnan said: "So you would?"

"Yes I would. My experience with Donald Trump, I hear what you're saying, maybe I'm wrong, but he has been courteous, he has been polite." he replied.

Emily was not pleased with this response, countering: "He denied an election that he lost. What does it matter if he's courteous if he can't accept the results of American democracy and the American voter?"

Boris reaffirmed his earlier statement that it was a "terrible thing to do".

He then challenged Krishnan for suggesting that the British former politician had, "on some level", modelled himself on Donald Trump, dismissing it as "nonsense".

Krishnan retorted: "He called you British Trump, you must be looking at him and thinking, if he can come back given everything he's done, then so can you because nothing you've done is quite as bad as him."

The debate concluded with Boris asserting his independence from Trump, describing Krishnan's claim as "complete and utter tripe".

"There was a time where he said something rather rude about safety in London and I was mayor of London for eight years and I took exception to that and I said that the only reason I wouldn't visit parts of New York is the risk of meeting Donald Trump and this was seven or eight years ago, what you've just said Krishnan is complete and utter tripe," he stated.

"I haven't modelled myself on anybody, I speak as a I find and what I am saying to you tonight is this thing could go either way and what matters above all is that the United States is strong and if Kamala gets it then I hope to gods sake that she does not sell out the Ukrainians and I hope that Donald Trump doesn't either.

"And I have reason based off what I saw to think that he won't."

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