'Embarrassed' Laura Kuenssberg cancels Boris Johnson's BBC interview

The BBC has canceled an interview with Boris Johnson after presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent her briefing notes to the former prime minister.

Kuenssberg, presenter of the BBC's flagship Sunday political interview show, said she sent the notes to Johnson in a message to my team.

The BBC's political editor between 2015 and 2022 said it was embarrassing and disappointing, adding that the error meant it was not appropriate for the interview to take place.

Johnson, was to promote his upcoming memoir, Unleashed, which will be released next week.

In an article on X on Wednesday evening, Kuenssberg wrote: As I prepared to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, I mistakenly sent him our briefing notes in a message to my team. It's very frustrating, and there's no point in pretending that it's anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, because there are a lot of important questions to ask.”

Yahoo News has rounded up some of the most striking revelations from the book so far that Kuenssberg will no longer ask the former prime minister about.

Johnson and the Queen

The Queen died shortly after Johnson left Downing Street and just days into the premiership of his successor, Liz Truss.

In her book, Johnson claims to have known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer.

Before her final visit to the royal residence at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, she was reportedly told that she had been quite depressed over the summer, but that her spirits were completely unimpaired by her illness.

In another meeting in 2021, less than a year before his death, Johnson admitted that he did not know that an RAF F-35 fighter jet had fallen from an aircraft carrier until what the queen speaks to him about it.

A “water raid” to seize COVID vaccines

In 2021, as EU regulations curbed the export of AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to the United Kingdom, Johnson said he discussed plans for a possible incursion into Dutch territory with British military officials.

This would have seen troops use inflatable boats to navigate the Dutch canal network to infiltrate the target warehouse. They would then find themselves at the target; enter; secure the hijacked goods, exfiltrate them using an articulated truck, and head to the Channel ports, Johnson wrote.

However, ministers in Johnson's government have reportedly cast doubt on these claims, with some even suggesting he might have made a joke about such an operation simply so he could later include it in his memoirs.

Macron suspected of having “militarized” small Channel boats

Johnson says it is “at least possible” that French President Emmanuel Macron authorized sea crossings by migrants to continue driving the British public crazy.

He suggested his counterpart across the Channel was “weaponizing” the issue as part of a campaign to undermine Brexit border controls.

Despite this, Macron is also said to have rejected plans for a new road link between England and France, with Johnson saying he was “appalled at the thought of seeing all these rapacious Brits” crossing the border.

Cameron said I'm going to fuck you up because of Brexit

Lord Cameron, prime minister at the time of the Brexit campaign, threatened to derail Johnson's career if he did not support Remain, Johnson claimed.

According to the new book, during a tennis match, the then Tory leader, who was in fine form after winning the 2015 general election, promised Johnson a top cabinet post in return of his support.

However, in a later phone call, when Johnson said he was considering supporting Leave, Cameron told him: “I'll fuck you up forever” if he did. A spokesperson for Lord Cameron declined to comment.

Request for a manly pep talk with Prince Harry

Among several accounts of his interactions with the royal family is Johnson's claim that Buckingham Palace asked him to persuade Prince Harry to stay in Britain.

The manly pep talk that followed reportedly took place at a UK-Africa investment conference, shortly before the prince flew to Canada to join his wife Meghan.

However, even though it appears that the meeting took place, sources claimed this was not requested by the royal family or its officials.

Johnson compared himself to Julius Caesar

The resignation of then-chancellor Rishi Sunk is widely seen as the moment it became clear that Johnson could no longer remain prime minister.

Although he previously considered Sunak a “friend and partner”, Johnson describes his role in his downfall as “worse than a crime”.

He claimed that when reading Sunak's resignation letter he had muttered “at least internally” the reported last words of Julius Caesar, “kai su, teknon”.

The phrase roughly translates to “you too, my child” and is said to have been directed at one of his assassins, Brutus.