Boris Johnson’s early morning milk delivery to a member of the public appears to have been exposed as a staged campaign stunt.
The prime minister’s delivery to a couple’s house was framed as a “surprise” encounter but the woman who opened the door appeared to accidentally let slip that it was planned.
After seeing the reporters and TV crews outside the house, civil servant Debbie Monaghan said: “I didn’t realise there was going to be this many people…”
She later told the Press Association that she was not expecting the prime minister to knock on her door.
“It's a surprise. It's very early, I assume he's travelled a long way but I'm going to vote Conservative so I'm quite pleased,” she said.
Two bottles of milk which had already been delivered to the house were removed before Mr Johnson arrived so he could meet Ms Monaghan and her husband.
Mr Johnson’s campaign visit to Leeds was derailed when a Good Morning Britain reporter ambushed the prime minister on live TV and asked him to take part in an interview with presenters Piers Morgan and Susannah Reid.
The Conservative leader told the reporter “I’ll be with you in a second” before escaping into a large fridge.
Party sources told the Guardian that the prime minister was “categorically not hiding” in the fridge and claimed he was instead receiving interview prep.
John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said Mr Johnson was “avoiding being questioned” and described his behaviour as “cowardly, undignified and pathetic.”
The incident was the latest moment in a stunt-laden Conservative campaign, which has seen Mr Johnson drive a JCB digger through a polystyrene wall and change a wheel on a Formula One car.
After his milk delivery, the prime minister visited a Derby catering firm and put a pastry top on a beef and ale pie before it was placed in an oven.
He then pulled out a separate pie that had already cooked for 20 minutes, to which he had made no contribution.
Additional reporting by PA
