US election 2024: Boris Johnson 'fired' from Channel 4 coverage after brutal Emily Maitlis clash

Ex-Prime Minister and Donald Trump pal Boris Johnson was sensationally 'fired' from his spot on Channel 4's US election night coverage – because he refused to stop "banging on about his book".

The Brexiteer-in-Chief ran into a series of skirmishes throughout the night as he weighed in on events across the States, but when he failed to reappear after a commercial break presenter revealed he had been "fired for banging on about his book".

Mr Johnson, often cited for his camaraderie with , furiously hit back at journalist Emily Maitlis in a fiery debate tonight. Amidst discussions of his links with the former US president, he lambasted her line of inquiry as "sloppy" and "dangerous".

The atmosphere intensified when Maitlis brought up ' past with Trump and the intimidation she's faced since coming forward. Stormy revealed: "Oh a bullet proof vest? I get all kinds of crazy threats all the time but sometimes one will stand out more than the others and it's not always the most violent or graphic one."

Interpreting Johnson's body language, Maitlis remarked: "Mr Johnson you're kind of shaking your head, but this is coming from a man you've described as a friend."

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Johnson hastily refuted: "No not at all, I wasn't shaking my head at all," leading Emily to readjust her comment, indicating his reaction could be seen as one of dismay and support, concurrently alluding to Johnson's previous advisory position to Trump on global affairs.

Expressing his concern for Stormy, Johnson declared: "Let me first say that I think anyone watching this will have immense sympathy for Stormy."

"Everything that you feel and have been going through. Nobody should be threatened or feel threatened as part of the democratic process."

Boris attempted to deflect, stating: "And I'm afraid I don't know the ins and outs of much of what's happened. What I can say, the area in which I can speak with authority is about the foreign policy relationship."

However, Emily and Stormy pressed him further, with Emily saying: "We're gonna put foreign policy aside and talk about character. There's no reason why you wouldn't know Stormy Daniels story because it's been absolutely public for years."

Stormy added: "She's described the character of the man and how his fans react to somebody like her."

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Boris maintained his stance, saying: "And I understand that, but you see the job in the UK of the Prime Minister is to have a good close relationship, friendship with whoever is in the White House and it has to be operational and it did work," Stormy then asked Boris if he would be comfortable with the women in his life being alone with Mr Trump, questioning: "So if you're the Prime Minister and you and Donald Trump got into a disagreement as people do with Donald Trump whether you're right or wrong. Would you have any fear for the ladies in your life? How do you feel about doxxing? " Boris replied: "Nothing like that came up."

Stormy persisted, asking: "You wouldn't be worried that that would happen to your daughters or sisters? " defended his interactions with the former US President, stating: "When you're talking to the US President, the relationship you have as the Prime Minister, is one of great formality and importance and of course you develop a friendship but actually and I can say this with all sincerity, in my time with him I never was treated with anything other than complete courteous and friendliness. Now you had a very different experience but I can only talk about my experience."

However, his stance was challenged by Emily Maitlis who drew parallels between Johnson's behaviour as Prime Minister and Trump's conduct, blasting, "His disregard for institutions, his disregard for the rule of law, his denialism, which I think 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."

Boris let out a dismissive laugh and countered with a self-assured plug for his memoir, "Well there I obviously disagree profoundly as I detail in the book Unleashed," but Maitlis didn't bite, pushing further on the Trump comparison. Boris labelled her connection as "sloppy" and "dangerous", asserting firmly, "Well no because I don't accept your analogy at all and I think it's very sloppy and dangerous to make analogies between the US and the UK in that kind of way."

Channel 4's lead presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, 54, stepped in, asking Boris Johnson: "You didn't model yourself on him at all? " Dodging the question, Boris replied: "And I think people compare with the advent of Donald Trump. Brexit was actually supported by people across the political spectrum."

Emily Maitlis, 54, wasn't having it and challenged: "You're not answering the question. Just go back to the question."

Boris insisted, "I'm answering the question directly. I believe in my administration we had complete respect for institutions. We had respect for the decision of the British people to leave the . And unlike many people in the UK establishment who wanted to thwart that, we were determined to go ahead and deliver it. As we promised."

But Krishnan wasn't satisfied, pointing out: "But you didn't respect the Parliamentary Committee and misled the Privileges Committee. That's not respect."

Undeterred, Boris stated: "17.4 million people voted for us to deliver it and we did."

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In a fiery exchange, Emily hit back: "I don't know why you're talking about Brexit because you know exactly what we're talking about."

Boris shot back defiantly: "Because you're talking about an analogy which I reject between the US and the UK."

Emily pressed further: "No, we're discussing the Owen Patterson affair where he was found to have violated standards law by Kathleen Stone, and you dismissed that. You quoted people calling it a 'Kangaroo court'."

Boris Johnson said, "If you read Unleashed, you'll see I admitted we made a mistake, took the wrong approach, and then corrected it," in response to criticism. "But when it comes to partygate or the handling of the Covid pandemic, I believe the UK government did an exceptional job."

Emily pressed on, saying the conversation was about Boris's response to institutions, stating, "It's about people calling out your lies."

Boris rejected this, adding, "Here's Channel 4 News, run by Ian Katz, pulling the same stunt you tried in 2004 with a heavily biased approach to a US election."

Emily challenged him to account for his actions, but Boris reminded her that he was "not standing for election here".

The conversation turned to Donald Trump's character, with Stormy asking Boris: "Do you have children? Would you leave your daughter alone with Donald Trump? " Boris replied, "Well I don't see why not."

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Krishnan queried: "So you would? " Boris insisted: "Yes I would. My experience with Donald Trump, I hear what you're saying, maybe I'm wrong, but he has been courteous, he has been polite."

Emily countered: "He denied an election that he lost. What does it matter if he's courteous if he can't accept the results of American democracy and the American voter? " Boris reiterated his criticism of Trump's actions, calling them a "terrible thing to do". He then clashed with Krishnan over the suggestion that he had modelled himself on Trump, dismissing it as "nonsense".

Krishnan shot back: "He called you British Trump, you must be looking at him and thinking, if he can come back given everything he's done, then so can you because nothing you've done is quite as bad as him."

The debate heated up when Boris insisted that he was no yes-man to Trump and slammed Krishnan's suggestion as "complete and utter tripe". Recalling a past run-in with the former US President, Boris said: "There was a time where he said something rather rude about safety in London and I was mayor of London for eight years and I took exception to that and I said that the only reason I wouldn't visit parts of New York is the risk of meeting Donald Trump and this was seven or eight years ago, what you've just said Krishnan is complete and utter tripe."

Boris went on to assert his independence, stating, "I haven't modelled myself on anybody, I speak as I find and what I am saying to you tonight is this thing could go either way and what matters above all is that the United States is strong and if Kamala gets it then I hope to gods sake that she does not sell out the Ukrainians and I hope that Donald Trump doesn't either."

He expressed a cautiously optimistic view on Trump, saying, "And I have reason based off what I saw to think that he won't."