London: A live debate between the two candidates vying to replace Boris Johnson as Britain’s prime minister was dramatically halted after the presenter grilling the pair fainted on-air.
The moment was not broadcast but the reaction to it was captured by a visibly horrified and shocked Liz Truss, who was speaking at the time about standing up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reacts to the collapse of presenter Kate McCann.
Kate McCann, political editor of TalkTV, was hosting the debate for the channel as well as The Sun when she collapsed midway through the grilling of former chancellor Rishi Sunak and the foreign secretary.
“Oh my God,” Truss said, as a loud crash was heard in the background.
She left the podium and rushed to McCann’s aid and the feed was cut.
“Kate McCann fainted on air tonight and although she is fine, the medical advice was that we shouldn’t continue with the debate,” TalkTV said in a statement.
“We apologise to our viewers and listeners.”
Harry Cole, political editor of The Sun had been due to co-host the debate with his colleague and friend but had to cancel after testing positive for COVID-19.
He told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that she had the candidates on the ropes at the time the debate was cut short.
“When I was benched from hosting with her I was gutted but was punching the air as she grilled Rishi and Liz for a brilliant half hour of telly, cruelly cut short just as the candidates were on the ropes,” Cole said.
“She’ll be back doing what she does best tomorrow I suspect,” he said.
Truss’s response contrasted with that of one of her early rivals, the current Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi who, when campaigning for the leadership at an event, continued talking when a woman fainted during his speech.
The debate had been a less heated showdown compared the Monday night’s encounter on the BBC when Sunak repeatedly interrupted Truss and the two sparred over Sunak’s mega-wealth.
McCann extracted a surprising pledge from both candidates that they would support fracking to extract coal seam gas, providing it was done in with the backing of local communities.
Fracking is extremely controversial but has been championed by the Tory party’s right-wing candidates, some of whom openly want the Government to roll back it’s legislated net-zero pledge.
However, both candidates are committed to slashing emissions to zero by 2050, although Truss wants to remove green levies, saying energy costs for families are already too high.
The pair are locked in a ferocious battle over each other’s economic plans which was turbo-charged by the International Monetary Fund’s warning released just hours before the debate that the UK is headed for the lowest economic growth in the G7.
The UK is headed for just 0.5 per cent growth in 2023, a major reduction from the 1.2 per cent that was forecast.
Sunak, as Chancellor, raised taxes to a 70-year high and says that it is immoral to leave the next generation the bill for the enormous sums paid out to people forced to stay at home during the start of the pandemic.
Truss, says that it was morally wrong to break the Tories’ 2019 election pledge that they would not raise taxes, and said that funding the NHS could be done through existing taxes.
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