The defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, had a live television interview cut off after he repeatedly dodged a question about his “Trump-esque” approach to Russia in the aftermath of the Salisbury poisoning.
The Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley repeatedly tried to get Williamson to answer a question on Tuesday and terminated the interview when he felt it had become clear Williamson would not do so.
“What are they like? What are these politicians like, when you give them a straight question?” said a clearly exasperated Madeley afterwards.
He had asked Williamson: “You told Russia to ‘shut up and go away’. Do you regret that now? Do you think it was a bit too informal?”
In response, the defence secretary began by paying tribute to the health service staff who had tended to Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, the victims of the poisoning. Madeley cut him off, saying they could discuss the health workers in due course and asking him to answer the original question.
Rather than addressing his previous comments directly, Williamson variously sought to talk about Britain being unified over the poisoning of the Skripals, about Russia’s actions in a UK city and about the UK working with its global allies – interrupted by an increasingly frustrated Madeley at each turn.
“Mr Williamson, you are just not answering the question. I’m asking the question not on my behalf but on behalf of our viewers, so on behalf of the viewers, would you please answer the question,” he said at one point.
At another, he told Williamson: “You’re telling us what we know. We know what happened in Salisbury, we know how atrocious it was, we know how close these people came to death. The question is – I’ll try it one more time – do you regret using very casual, Trump-esque language like ‘shut up and go away’? Please don’t tell me what happened, because we know what happened. Do you regret using that language? That is the question.”
Finally giving up, Madeley told him: “Right, you’re not going to answer, are you? OK. All right, interview terminated because you won’t answer the question. It would be helpful if you answered a straight question with a straight answer.”
