BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker has defended his interview with Boris Johnson after being accused of going “soft” on the Prime Minister.
Johnson spoke to Walker for half an hour yesterday in his first in-depth interview since his election victory in December. The Prime Minister is boycotting Radio 4’s Today programme over perceived bias and declined to be interviewed by Andrew Neil in the run-up to the election.
Inevitably, he was accused by some of going for an easier ride by choosing to be interviewed by Walker instead. The presenter, who also hosts Football Focus on BBC One, asked Johnson about a range of topics, including Iran, Brexit, social care, Northern Ireland and Flybe, but Piers Morgan, who presents rival breakfast show Good Morning Britain, described the interview as “another soft paddle interview that Downing Street has served up to BBC Breakfast, because they know they’re going to get an easy ride”.
David Schneider, the actor, writer and director, who is a vocal critic of the Conservative party on social media, tweeted that Johnson had “the smile of a man who’ll hide from Andrew Neil but will let himself be interviewed by Dan Walker.”
