Boris Johnson ‘fired’ from Channel 4’s US election coverage after being branded ‘cheap’ for book plug

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised for plugging his book during a guest appearance on Channel 4’s coverage of the US election.

Guests on the programme included Republican supporter and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, and Stormy Daniels, the woman at the centre of Mr Trump’s hush money trial.

Mr Johnson appeared on the coverage, at one point being grilled by Ms Daniels about if he still considers Trump his friend. He also revealed he had spoken to Mr Trump ‘quite recently’.

Mr Trump faces sentencing later in November after he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over the payment of hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.

Emily Maitlis continued to challenge Mr Johnson after the exchange in which Ms Daniels spoke of her court case and asked Boris Johnson if he had children.

Just minutes into the live programme titled America Decides: US Presidential Election, co-host Krishnan Guru-Murthy also told Mr Johnson to “put it away” and “stop it, enough” as he twice referenced his new book and attempted to hold it up to viewers.

Guru-Murthy described the former prime minister’s actions as “so cheap”.

Mr Johnson retorted: “There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop me… I’m allowed to plug my book.”

Channel 4 replaced the former prime minister with Mr Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s former lawyer. Though it is unclear if Mr Johnson’s exit was planned.

The 60-year-old has been promoting his new memoir tiled Unleashed after it was released last month.

The 784-page book looks back on Mr Johnson’s time as prime minister – from 2019 to 2022 – including Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

Channel 4 newsreader Guru-Murthy is at the helm of the channel’s first overnight US election programme since 1992 alongside former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis.

Political pundits, and a number of famous faces including Mr Johnson, will join the hosts in the Washington DC studio as the American public decides whether Democratic nominee Kamala Harris or Mr Trump becomes president.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said it’s a “beautiful thing” not to know what will happen in the US election.

The former UK prime minister, who appeared as a guest on Channel 4’s US Election coverage with British broadcasters Emily Maitlis and Krishnan Guru-Murthy, said: “Nobody knows what is going to happen, it’s a fantastic thing, it’s a beautiful thing because there are countries where they have democratic elections where they know full well what is going to happen.”

Talking about working former US president Donald Trump while he was prime minister of the UK, Mr Johnson said: “I had a very interesting time working with Donald and there are clearly issues we don’t agree on,” referencing gun controls and female reproductive rights.

“We became friendly absolutely,” he continued. “The thing that really worries me right now is Ukraine and the future of democracy in that country. I think there is a risk whatever happens in this election that there will be a disaster in Ukraine.”

When asked, while he was in office, if he told Mr Trump it was wrong to chose “the path of election denialism” after his last attempt to reprise his role as president, Mr Johnson said: “Not only did I tell him, I told the whole world…I have a problem with it, with what he did.”

Later on Boris Johnson argued that Donald Trump brought “peace and relative stability” during his tenure as US president, while Succession’s Brian Cox described him as a “monster”.

The pair appeared as guests on Channel 4’s live coverage of the US election in the Washington DC studio as the US public decides whether Democratic nominee Kamala Harris or Republican Mr Trump becomes elected.

“We have to make sure that he doesn’t get in because he is a monster, he really is,” Scottish actor Cox said of Mr Trump, as he appeared virtually from London.

“He’s crazy, he’s insane, he wants to be a dictator.

“…I think he’s lost it, quite frankly, I think he’s deeply mentally unstable and I think he has been for some time. This is not a man who should be the president of the United States, absolutely not.

“He’s unreliable, he’s a convicted felon, I’m horrified.”