Following ’s car-crash interview on Good Morning Britain yesterday, Susanna Reid has slammed the Prime Minister’s alarming response to a pensioner who rides the bus all day to stay warm.
The PM appeared on Good Morning Britain for the first time since yesterday, with which did not go well for Mr Johnson.
But the most eye-opening moment came when Susanna brought Elsie, 77, to Mr Johnson’s attention, and explained that because of her heating bills continuing to soar, she is now living on one meal a day, losing weight and
His response? ‘The 24-hour freedom bus pass was actually something that I actually introduced.’
Unsurprisingly, viewers were appalled by his answer – which wasn’t even accurate. The freedom pass has actually existed in some form since 1973.
Susanna appeared on Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC and confirmed she had spoken to Elsie about Mr Johnson’s answer, and she was ‘disappointed’.
‘She says there are people who are even worse off than she is and there was no answer for them,’ said Susanna.
‘Apart from “I was the person who was responsible for the bus pass”. I mean, as if she’s supposed to be grateful?’
Sharing some advice for Mr Johnson, Susanna continued: ‘I would say for any Prime Minister, any party leader who deals with a difficult case like that, the answer is not to just revert to, “We’re going to invest for the long term. We’re making sure people have got jobs. We’ve got this fund over there that can help”.
‘The answer is to say, “That sounds dreadful for Elsie. I’d like to find out more about it. And you know, if she would let me, I would get in touch with Elsie as Prime Minister and find out exactly what that means. And let’s see how we can help her”.
‘That’s the answer.’
During his appearance on Good Morning Britain, Mr Johnson appeared more and more uncomfortable with each minute.
By the end he was so flustered, when Susanna introduced Lorraine Kelly’s show which was coming up next, he asked: ‘Who’s Lorraine?’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
