The candidate for the leadership of the British Conservative Party – and, inherently, for the position of prime minister of the country, replacing Boris Johnson – canceled the interview with the BBC that was scheduled for this Tuesday. Truss, who is the favorite according to the polls, can thus reach the position of head of government without having done any important interviews during the campaign, The Guardian recalls.
“Mrs. Truss’s team says she will no longer have time to appear in the ‘Our Next Prime Minister’ segment,” a spokesman for British public television confirmed in relation to the previously scheduled interview with journalist Nick Robinson. “We regret that it was not possible to conduct in-depth interviews with the two candidates, despite the fact that there was an agreement on this beforehand.”
Robinson reacted on Twitter saying that he was “disappointed and frustrated” with the cancellation.
He had the pleasure of securing an in-depth interview with @trussliz on BBC1. I am disappointed and frustrated that it has been canceled https://t.co/3X3tmwDP4t
—Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) August 29, 2022
Truss’s opponent, Rishi Sunak, did his interview with Robinson on August 10. Speaking to The Guardian, a campaign source recalled that Truss only gave two television interviews during the campaign, while Sunak gave nine. “Avoiding scrutiny suggests either that Truss doesn’t have a plan or that the plan that he has isn’t good enough to meet the challenges we face this year,” the same source said.
Opposition parties also criticized the decision. “Liz Truss is running, scared, from the average and the necessary public scrutiny,” said Liberal Democrat Rep. Wendy Chamberlain. “She wants to follow in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher, but she has already passed the first hurdle.”
The Labor Party, for its part, stressed that not only will the next prime minister not be chosen directly by the British, but now Liz Truss “wants to avoid any public scrutiny.” “People will correctly conclude that she doesn’t want to answer questions about her plans for the country because she doesn’t have any serious answers,” shadow minister Conor McGinn said.
Source: Observadora
