Boris Johnson has been labelled a “bottlejob” after avoiding an interview by hiding in a fridge.
The prime minister started the final day of election campaigning by helping load milk and orange juice bottles into a delivery vehicle in West Yorkshire.
But he was ambushed by Jonathan Swain, a reporter from ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB), who asked him to live up to his promise to give an interview to the programme.
One of Johnson’s aides can then be seen saying “oh for f**ks sake* while GMB co-host Susanna Reid remarks about the “look on his face”.
Johnson is then asked by Swain: “Why don’t you have five minutes? You’re live on Good Morning Britain, I’ve got Piers [Morgan] and Susanna with me.”
Johnson replied: “I’ll be with you in a minute”, before being ushered into a walk-in fridge.
Morgan later asked Johnson: “I’ve known you 25 years, what’s the matter with you? I’ve interviewed you a few times, you’re a good bloke normally, you’ve got no problem doing interviews, they’re all fine, you bluster your way through them.
“What is the problem? Why would you rather be looking like you’re a bottlejob?”
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Morgan later said on Twitter: “Cowardice is never a good look.”
The PM has been criticised during the campaign for refusing to be interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew Neil, despite all other parties having already done so.
Johnson was also replaced by an ice sculpture after failing to show up for a climate change election debate on Channel 4 News.