Boris Johnson 'had food poisoning and threw up on suit' before GMB interview

Boris Johnson vomited on his suit prior to his interview on Good Morning Britain after getting food poisoning, aides have reportedly said.

The prime minister is said to have told senior staff he was "beaten up" by presenter Susanna Reid on Tuesday, who grilled him on the cost of living crisis which is currently blighting the country.

An aide told the Sunday Times: "He had food poisoning.

"He was throwing up and had to change his suit because he got sick on his lapel."

They added that the PM went straight to a meeting and told them: "I just got beaten up by Susanna Reid."

It is understood the PM had a signal he could give to his staff during the interview in case he needed to leave in an emergency.

Reid interviewed Johnson at 10 Downing Street, marking his first appearance on the ITV breakfast show since 2017 when he was foreign secretary.

Watch: Boris Johnson grilled about 77-year-old Elsie in car crash interview

Johnson fleetingly featured on the show in December 2019 when he walked away from cameras and appeared to hide in an industrial fridge in order to avoid engaging in an interview.

During the interview, Reid challenged him about the impact of the cost of living crisis and also asked why he will not resign over the Partygate scandal, breaking the law and following accusations that he misled parliament.

He was also challenged on the case of 77-year-old Elsie, who previously told GMB she has seen her energy bill soars, forcing her to cut down to one meal a day and resort to travelling on buses throughout the day to stay out of her home and keep her bills down.

Reid has said 77-year-old Elsie was “disappointed” with Johnson following his response to her situation.

Former London mayor Mr Johnson said: “The 24-hour freedom bus pass was actually something that I actually introduced.” This claim was later disputed.

He added that there are “plenty of things more that we are doing”, saying: “What we want to do is make sure that we have people who are in particular hardship looked after by their councils, so we are putting much more money into local councils.

“We have the particular payments to help elderly people in particular with the cost of heating.”

Pushed on what Elsie should cut back on, he said: “I don’t want Elsie to have to cut back on anything.”

He added: “The best answer is to help her abate the cost of energy as we are, but also… to make sure there’s a direct cut in her council tax as a result of what we’re doing.”

He also raised the winter fuel allowance and other “measures that we’ve put in place to help people”.

He said the government is “making sure that we take the steps now to invest in our energy supply” to “ensure that we have the supply for the medium and the long term”.

Speaking to LBC’s Tonight with Andrew Marr, and describing her interview with the prime minister, Reid said: “I’ve spoken to Elsie since the interview this morning with the prime minister, and she says how disappointed she is with what he said.

“Because she says there are people who are even worse off than she is, and there was no answer for them, apart from ‘oh, I was the person who was responsible for the bus pass,’ I mean, as if she’s supposed to be grateful.”

Fact-checkers have since pointed out that Johnson did not introduce the freedom bus pass.