Good Morning Britain gave the government the “empty chair” treatment on Wednesday, after no cabinet ministers would agree to be interviewed by the ITV daytime show.
With the nation waiting on the publication of Sue Gray’s investigation into various alleged illegal gatherings at Downing Street during lockdown, and the police now investigating the matter, presenters Adil Ray and Susanna Reid revealed at the beginning of their live broadcast that no government officials were willing to speak to them.
This was despite foreign secretary Liz Truss doing various media rounds elsewhere, including on Sky News and the BBC’s Today programme.
“As often happens when there’s a big news story around the government, when they’ve got their backs to the wall, and they need to answer questions, they disappear” Adil explained.
“So we are hearing that we may well not get a government minister this morning, despite being a national breakfast show that has a predominantly Midlands and North-based audience.
“The fact the ministers are ignoring this big section of the UK this morning, I think, is very telling.”
Joking about the latest allegations concerning prime minister Boris Johnson, Adil added: “But we do have cake! Maybe they’d like to come in! We can offer you cake.”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to ‘ambush them with cake’,” Charlotte Hawkins then interjected, with Adil commenting: “Well, you know, you call it an ambush, I call it a party.
“So – if ministers are around, we’d love you to speak to the UK, there is a police investigation going on, and the least you could do is answer some questions to us.”
“Don’t worry you don’t have to answer them under caution on this programme,” Susanna then joked.
Back in 2020, GMB infamously went more than 200 days without an appearance from a cabinet minister, at a time when then-anchor Piers Morgan was receiving widespread praise for holding the government to account over their handling of the pandemic.
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.