Rishi Sunak has revealed he was “starstruck” when he was first interviewed by then BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
The former chancellor, who is believed to be on course to lose the Tory leadership election to Liz Truss, was answering questions from party members via video on Thursday afternoon.
Asked if he had ever been “starstruck”, Sunak said he had been “lots”.
“I’ve got to say probably the first time - this is going to sound a bit odd for someone on my job - but I was very starstruck when I first met Laura Kuenssberg because she interviewed me as chancellor on my 40th birthday.
“My team had to telling me stop being starstruck by her. It was quite an amazing moment.”
Sunak was interviewed by the Kuenssberg on May 12, 2020, at the start of the Covid pandemic.
He had been appointed chancellor by Boris Johnson a few months earlier on February 13.
It was a rapid rise through the ranks for Sunak, who was only elected to parliament in 2015 and in summer 2019 was still a junior local government minister.
His appointment to No.11 helped set up his Conservative Party leadership run.
Sunak also said it was “pretty neat” to have been interviewed by Andi Peters last week on ITV, having grown up watching the presenter on children’s TV.
He also revealed he had been starstruck as a child when meeting footballers David Beckham, Matthew Le Tissier and Alan Shearer.