'Embarrassed' Laura Kuenssberg cancels Boris Johnson BBC interview

The BBC has cancelled an interview with Boris Johnson after presenter Laura Kuenssberg accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes.

Kuenssberg, presenter of the BBC’s flagship Sunday political interview show, said she sent Johnson the notes “in a message meant for my team”.

The BBC’s political editor between 2015 and 2022 said it was “embarrassing and disappointing”, adding the error meant it was “not right for the interview to go ahead”.

Johnson, was set to promote his upcoming memoir, Unleashed, which will be published next week.

In a post on X on Wednesday evening, Kuenssberg wrote: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team. It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked."

Yahoo News has collated some of the most eye-catching revelations from the book so far that Kuenssberg will no longer be quizzing the former prime minister about.

Johnson and the Queen

Queen Elizabeth II died shortly after Johnson quit Downing Street and just days into the premiership of his successor, Liz Truss.

In his book, Johnson claims to have known “for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer”.

Prior to his own final visit to royal residence Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, he was reportedly told she had “gone down quite a bit over the summer”, but that her mind remained “completely unimpaired by her illness".

In another meeting in 2021, less than a year before her death, Johnson admitted he did not know an RAF F-35 fighter jet had fallen off an aircraft carrier until he was told about it by the Queen.

'Aquatic raid' to seize COVID vaccines

In 2021, amid claims EU regulations were holding up the export of AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to the UK, Johnson said he discussed plans for a possible incursion into Dutch territory with British military officials.

This would have reportedly seen troops use inflatable boats to navigate the Dutch canal network to infiltrate the target warehouse. “They would then rendezvous at the ­target; enter; secure the ­hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports,” Johnson wrote.

However, ministers from Johnson’s government have reportedly cast doubt on the claims, with some even suggesting he may have made a joke about such an operation simply so he could later include it in his memoirs.

Macron suspected of 'weaponising' Channel small boats

Johnson claims it is "at least possible" that French president Emmanuel Macron allowed sea crossings by migrants to continue to “drive the British public nuts”.

He suggested his cross-Channel counterpart was "weaponising" the issue as part of a campaign to undermine Brexit border controls.

Despite this, however, Macron also reportedly turned down plans for a new road link between England and France, with Johnson claiming he was "appalled at the idea of all those rapacious Brits" crossing over.

Cameron said ‘I will f*** you up' over Brexit

David Cameron, the prime minister at the time of the Brexit referendum, threatened to derail Johnson's career if he didn't endorse Remain, Johnson has claimed.

According to the new book, during a tennis match the then-Tory leader who was riding high after his 2015 general election victory, promised Johnson a top cabinet job in exchange for his support.

In a later phone call, however, when Johnson said he was considering backing Leave, Cameron told him "I will f*** you up forever" if he did. A spokesman for Lord Cameron has declined to comment.

Request for a ‘manly pep talk’ with Prince Harry

Among several accounts of his interactions with the Royal Family is Johnson’s claim that Buckingham Palace requested he persuade Prince Harry to stay in Britain.

The subsequent “manly pep talk” reportedly took place at a UK-Africa investment conference shortly before the prince flew to Canada to join his wife Meghan.

However, while it is understood the meeting did take place, sources have claimed it was not requested by the Royal Family or its officials.

Johnson compared himself to Julius Caesar

The resignation of his then-chancellor Rishi Sunak is widely seen as the moment when it became clear Johnson would no longer be able to remain as prime minister.

Despite previously considering Sunak a "friend and a partner", Johnson describes his role in his downfall as "worse than a crime".

He claimed that while reading Sunak's resignation letter he muttered "at least internally" the reported last words of Julius Caesar, "kai su, teknon".

The phrase roughly translates as "you too, child" and was said to have been directed at one of his assassins, Brutus.