Boris Johnson replaced by melting ice after missing election climate debate

cde.news desk 29 November 2019, 06:00 · 1 min read

epa08031625 An ice sculpture is put in place for Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the studio before the start of the Channel 4 News' General Election climate debate at ITN Studios in Holborn, central London, Britain, 28 November 2019. EPA-EFE/Kirsty O'Connor/ Press Association / POOL

Britain’s increasingly rancorous election campaign took a bizarre turn on Thursday night when prime minister Boris Johnson refused to join other party leaders in a televised debate on climate change, prompting producers to replace him in the studio with a melting ice sculpture.

On yet another day in which media coverage became as much a talking point as political issues, Johnson’s Conservative party offered government minister Michael Gove as a replacement, but Channel 4 refused, saying it was a leaders-only event.

That prompted the Conservatives to complain to Britain’s broadcast regulator and led to a bitter real-time Twitter spat between the editor of Channel 4 News, Ben de Pear, and Conservative minister James Cleverly.