Good Morning Britain mocks government with cake and empty chair after ministerial no-show

The government and Liz Truss has been mocked by Good Morning Britain host Adil Ray with cake after failing to appear for an interview.

It comes amid the ongoing “Partygate” scandal, in which the Prime Minister and other Number 10 officials are accused of holding multiple parties against lockdown rules over the pandemic.

But this morning, GMB found no ministers were available to speak live on air about the latest developments and were forced to empty-chair them.

Daily Mail's deputy political editor John Stevens tweeted: “Good Morning Britain empty chairing Liz Truss who is refusing to go on as part of ministerial broadcast round.”

Host Ray went a step further, taunting the minister with accusations of cowardice.

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Ray said: “As often happens when there's a big news story around for the Government, when they’ve got their backs to the wall and they need to answer questions, is that they disappear.”

Ray and his co-hosts continued with the mockery as he brandished a cake and they joked about an “ambush”, referencing Conor Burns, Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, who claimed Boris Johnson was “ambushed with a cake”.

Ray joked that, as they have cake in the studio, they may want to come in.

He said: “We do have cake. Maybe they’d like to come in. We’ve got some cake – we can offer you cake, cheese, wine.”

Co-host Susanna Reid replied: “Don’t tell me you’re planning to ambush them with cake, Adil."

Ray rescinded: “Well… you call it an ambush, I call it a party. If ministers are around, we’d love you to speak to the UK.

“There is a police investigation going on and the least you could do is answer some questions.”

When Truss did appear on Sky News, her defence that she wouldn’t answer questions that may prejudice the findings of Sue Gray’s report was slapped down by presenter Kay Burley.

Burley hit back, saying: “You can't prejudice the report of course because she's already done it.”

Not the best morning for the government, then.

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