Emily Maitlis Clashes With Boris Johnson After Accusing Him Of 'Trump-Like Behaviour'

Emily Maitlis clashed on live TV with Boris Johnson after she accused the former prime minister of “importing Trump-like behaviour into Britain”.

The pair went head-to-head on Channel 4′s coverage of the US presidential election.

Maitlis told him: “You essentially started imported 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 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 that you imported to Britain.”

Referring to his recently-published memoir, Johnson replied: “I obviously disagree profoundly, and as I detail extensively in Unleashed.

“I don’t accept your analogy at all. I think it’s very dangerous and sloppy to make analogies between the US and the UK in that kind of way.”

As Johnson tried to move the conversation onto the Brexit vote in 2016, Maitlis said: “You’re not answering the question.”

But Johnson hit back: “I’m answering the question directly.”

He said his government “had complete respect for institutions and we had respect for the decision of the British people to leave the European Union”.

Maitlis’ fellow presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, then said: “You were found to have misled parliament and misled the privileges committee. That’s not respect.”

Johnson kept talking about the Brexit vote, prompting Maitlis to say: “I don’t know why you’re talking about Brexit because you know precisely what we’re talking about.”

The former PM then praised his government’s response to the Covis-19 pandemic, but Maitlis said: “It’s nothing to do with that - it’s about how you respond to institutions and people calling out your lies, that’s what this is about.”

Johnson replied: “I reject that.”