you know this as well. it s like someone s tapping your shoulder, like physically dragging you away, physically dragging you away after three or four questions. but somehow he wasn t able, there wasn t really anyone doing that, and he wasn t able to extricate himself from the room. so he was a bit stuck. and that s interesting because things like, simple things like that are a sign of things breaking down because we know it s normally super slick. we know how slick is. and then the second thing that surprised me about that interview was just how he seemed in himself. normally you get lots of different versions of borisjohnson when you re interviewing him, but what you don t normally ever see is contrition and. heavy breathing and and the sort of. yeah, and i did actually think in that moment that. he was struggling. and i wondered afterwards, was it because of the dominic cummings betrayal that, to have your closest adviser? it s like someone that knows all your secrets telling the wor
to like it s a great sort of film, movie moment. it s the movie of that. but what i love about that, if it had been any other day, you would have been maybe having to interrupt in our time itjust wouldn t have happened. sack of rome. or if i d set off to work and well, if i d been on the air on my phone, i wouldn t have been able to take the call that brought that news. so itjust wouldn t have happened. and we should remind people that there s quite large areas of england where there was no strike action at all, because in those particular trusts, they didn t reach i would just, i think we should just remind people, though, that the 2a hours before that, i thought was going to be the most extraordinary, at least the most extraordinary, you know, political debacle of the year, if not the decade, which was seeing 60 members of his government, starting with sajid javid, resigning, something none of us ever expected to witness with any prime minister. and yet that wasn t the most extreme o
you know, banking crisis, great financial crisis for politics, you know, three prime ministers in two months, pa rtygate. i mean, in a way, i sort of feel we have to go back to what many tories refer to as the opaz affair, because it s sort of that s really when the madness kicks off, when borisjohnson tries to, you know, break all parliamentary privilege by protecting his mate owen paterson from being sanctioned by the house of commons. and itjust got crazier and crazier and crazier and crazier. and we re all exhausted tonight as well. this is the week where we all sat in the studios and boris johnson won an 80 seat majority. and i remember coming back injanuary and saying to my editor, you know, politics is going to be pretty dull. i mean, he s got an 80 seat majority. yeah, yeah, i know. i nearly gave up reporting
heavy breathing. and and the sort of. yeah, and i did actually think in that moment that. - he was struggling. and i wondered afterwards, l was it because of the dominic cummings betrayal that, - to have your closest adviser? it s like someone that knows all your secrets telling - the world your secrets because they want toi try to destroy you. had that actually begun to get - to him and did he think, you know, they always call him the greasedl piglet, don t they, that whatever, whatever bind he was in, - he could slip out and escape? and did he think that this - was the moment where he couldn t find an exit route? i don t know. right, chris, let s listen to the denouement of the borisjohnson story, which was broken by you on the today programme after you very rudely walked out of the today programme to answer the phone. i m glad you did. in fact, michel, as i speak to you, i m getting a call from downing street.
will you stick around till five past? i said, go on, then, i will and then i m going. if you insist. so at five past i go on and say a version of what i ve been saying all morning, which is that they re not answering the phone. then the phone rings and not physically rings because i had it on silent. but i said, you know, on the air, the phone s ringing. took the call. i was told he was going to go. you think, right. and then one of those moments, which i suspect you don t get very often in a career where i shout down the line, put me on the air! we ve had it a few times. it s a great sort of film, movie moment. it s the movie of that. but what i love about that, if it had been any other day, you would have been maybe having to interrupt in our time and saying to melvyn bragg, stop talking about it. itjust wouldn t have happened. sack of rome. or if i d set off to work and well, if i d been on the air on my phone, i wouldn t have been able to take the call that brought that news. so