ITV’s Julie Etchingham asks ‘brutal’ Boris Johnson question during Conservative leader debate

Julie Etchingham fires cutthroat Boris question during ITV leadership debate

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Julie Etchingham put all five candidates on the spot with a cutthroat question about Boris Johnson during the Britain’s Next Prime Minister debate on Sunday night.

Last week, current Conservative leader and PM, Boris Johnson, announced his intention to resign from his position in the coming months and, as soon as news broke of his imminent exit, speculation started on who will replace him. ITV news anchor Julie was at the helm of the second debate involving Johnson’s potential successors, days after Krishnan Guru-Murthy did the honours for Channel 4.

Julie was joined in the studio for the hour long discussion by the five remaining contenders – Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat. It was reported that former Chancellor Sunak led the way after the last week’s ballot of Tory MPs, ahead of Mourdant and Truss.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson say he is ‘proud’ of his leadership at final PMQs

Sunday night’s leadership debate gave all the candidates the chance to ask questions of each other, as well as explaining their stance on issues like Brexit and the cost of living crisis to Julie and the millions of viewers watching at home. But one question they probably did not see coming arrived right before the first advertising break, when presenter Julie asked for a show of hands on who would have out-going Prime Minister Johnson in their cabinet should they follow him into Number 10 and he wanted to serve.

None of them put their hand up but, as Julie attempted to cut to the ads, Mourdant interjected to try and offer him some support, saying: “I’d like to say something about him as I think it’s only fair

She was asked by Julie to ‘hold that thought,’ but continued to speak, shouting: “He got Brexit done.” as Julie added: “We want all of your thoughts on that issue, but very notable that not a single person raised their hand.”

Viewers were quick to react to Julie’s request, with one taking to praise her for a “cracking question,” while another remarked: “It would be great if Julie Etchingham just turned to one of them after each round of questions and said ‘you are the weakest link’.”

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