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Sky News' Kay Burley mocked Tory chairman James Cleverly after he failed to turn up to her interview despite having done the media circuit with several other news outlets.
During her breakfast program, she pointed to an empty seat beside her and said: "It was supposed to be filled by the chairman of the Conservative party."
Where is he? He's probably 15 feet from where I am standing at the moment.
I've been in to see him during the break, he said he wasn't due to come and talk to us today, although they had said they would talk to us today
At which point Burley begins to mercilessly list the things that she wanted to ask him about - including if the Conservative party is having a "good day" given Jacob Rees-Mogg's Grenfell comments and the row over the Brexit transition period.
"I also wanted to ask if he thought the Conservatives were having a good day," she continued angrily. "I also wanted to ask him about his suggestion - certainly his bosses suggestion - that Jeremy Corbyn was demonising billionaires and whether or not it was a good idea to defend billionaires at the start of the campaign."
I know Number 10 Downing Street watch our show, I know the spin doctors at Downing Street have absolutely reassured me by text that when politicians were doing the rounds in the morning they would do this programme. and yet we have an empty chair.
"Where on earth is he? He is 15 feet away from me, James Cleverly, who is the chair of the Conservative party, and he says he will not come on this programme to answer all of those questions.
"I'm fuming, I'm sure if you are watching and you want answers to those questions you will be fizzing as well."
Burley received applause online for her report
Oh, this is good. Well done @KayBurley @Conservatives can we please have more Rees-Mogg apercus, followed by James… https://t.co/uu2wmamwqv— James Hampshire (@James Hampshire) 1573038382
Extraordinary. Are the Tories running scared or is this utter contempt for journalism, the electorate and democracy… https://t.co/otmgVvOBF5— Kittywake🕯️ (@Kittywake🕯️) 1573038471
Amazing seeing @KayBurley call them out for what they are! Feel like this needs to be done on repeat for anyone uns… https://t.co/mHfzQLMSxy— Mike (@Mike) 1573038580
Sources close to Cleverly said that he had not been booked to appear on Sky, and was actually taking part in an interview on TalkRadio at the time of the empty-chair broadcast.
“It is totally false to say he ducked the interview in any way, shape or form,” said the source. “He has done a full round of interviews this morning."
However writer Alex Andreou pointed out a problem with that defence
@KayBurley @JamesCleverly @talkRADIO Let's resolve this definitively, shall we? Here is the "Listen Again" feature… https://t.co/iUnl3soWXL— Alex Andreou (@Alex Andreou) 1573037774
Clearly, @JamesCleverly says he was *preparing* for the interview. Now, it may be fair to say "I didn't do it, beca… https://t.co/hcXPw9PzdX— Alex Andreou (@Alex Andreou) 1573037775
There are PRIMARY sources freely available. Why do people not check them?— Alex Andreou (@Alex Andreou) 1573037775
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