After their Tory leadership TV discussion was dramatically cut short when the presenter passed out off-camera, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have joined many in wishing TalkTV political editor Kate McCann well.
After almost 30 minutes, the confrontation between the foreign secretary and ex-chancellor was taken off the air and later postponed on the advice of medical professionals present at the West London studio in Ealing.
After The Sun’s Harry Cole and Covid cancelled, Miss McCann, TalkTV’s political editor and host for the evening, received a deluge of well-wisher messages on social media but was afterwards reported to be “fine.”
Around 30 minutes into the TalkTV/The Sun event, Ms. Truss was responding to a question when the momentous moment occurred.
The Foreign Secretary, who was obviously alarmed, held her face in shock and cried out, “Oh my God!” in response to a loud boom.
Then, Ms. Truss could be seen stepping away from her podium and heading in the direction of Miss McCann.
We apologise for the interruption to this programme. Viewers were informed as the broadcast stream was abruptly cut off.
As soon as the problem is resolved, we’ll resume our regularly scheduled programming.
After a protracted break in the programme, viewers questioned what had happened in the studio until it was revealed that there had been a “medical issue” that had caused the disruption.
TalkTV afterwards issued a statement confirming that the remaining portion of the discussion would not go forward: “Kate McCann fainted on broadcast tonight and although she is alright, the medical advise was that we shouldn’t continue with the debate.” We are sorry to our listeners and viewers.
According to The Sun, Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss went to check on Kate McCann after she fainted and both candidates for the Tory nomination kneeled down to make sure she was okay.
Since then, both Tory leadership contenders have mentioned the possibility of continuing their discussion on TalkTV at a later time.
Mr. Sunak tweeted to Miss McCann and said, “Good news that you’re already healing. It was a terrific discussion, and I’m looking forward to you grilling me soon!
Later, Ms. Truss tweeted her relief at learning Kate E. McCann was okay. I’m sorry to see such a terrific discussion come to an end. Be on the lookout for Kate and the rest of the @TheSun @TalkTV team in the near future.
While the matter was handled and the show was taken off the air, the ex-chancellor and the foreign secretary could be seen engaging in conversation with viewers in the studio.
This evening, a lot of people on social media expressed their gratitude and admiration for Miss McCann, the political editor of TalkTV and a former Sky News employee.
After Harry Cole, the political editor of The Sun, backed out of co-hosting the event earlier today after testing positive for Covid, she was the only one moderating the Tory leadership discussion.
Miss McCann was “totally bossing it,” Mr. Cole wrote on Twitter, adding that he was “extremely pleased of my pal.”
‘Just want to give top marks to @KateEMcCann for moderating the first of the leadership debates where there was space to hear more depth rather than just the top line stuff,’ wrote Tory MP Angela Richardson, a supporter of Mr. Sunak, on Twitter.
It wasn’t as hurried,’ she said. Excellent work, and I wish her quick recovery.
Another Mr. Sunak supporter, Andrew Bowie, tweeted: “Very relieved to hear the great @KateEMcCann is doing fine.” As usual, she did a fantastic job tonight moderating the discussion. among the best in the industry.
As a supporter of Ms. Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke praised Miss McCann as a “beautiful person and a terrific presenter” and expressed his wish for her speedy recovery.
Amanda Milling, a minister in the Foreign Office, commended Miss McCann for “performing a brilliant job” and wished her speedy recovery.
Julia Hartley-Brewer, a fellow TalkTV host, tweeted: “So bloody happy that @KateEMcCann is ok.
She did a bloody amazing job hosting the Tory leaders’ debate on @TalkTV, I think we can all agree on that.
“In those 20 minutes, we learned more about @RishiSunak and @trussliz policy than in the entire hour of the BBC!”
The blue-on-blue attacks between Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss had been set aside as they competed on live television for the second time in two days prior to the dramatic break.
The two candidates for the Tory leadership addressed questions about the NHS and the cost-of-living crisis this evening, in less heated exchanges than last night’s bitter BBC debate.
As Ms Truss celebrated her 47th birthday, Mr. Sunak started the ceremony by wishing her a happy birthday.
In addition, the ex-chancellor refrained from interrupting Ms. Truss, as he regularly did during the BBC programme and was accused of “mansplaining” when he did.
Mr. Sunak acknowledged that he was “taking a lot of heat” for his decision to increase National Insurance contributions while he was in the Treasury as they were being questioned about the NHS by a Sun reader.
However, he defended the tax increase, which he referred to as a “NHS levy,” as a way to increase funding for the health service following the Covid issue.
It wasn’t an easy thing for me to do, and I received a lot of criticism for it, but I think I did the right thing, according to Mr. Sunak.
“I don’t think we can have an NHS that is underfunded and unable to provide the care it requires, given that it is ultimately the country’s top priority in terms of public services.”
And because I made the courageous choice to secure the backing it required, I believe you can have faith that the NHS is safe in my hands.
Ms. Truss pledged to invest an additional £39 billion in the NHS and social care, but she insisted that funding for these initiatives could be obtained through “ordinary taxation” rather than by raising National Insurance.
She referred to the Tories’ pre-election pledge not to increase income tax, national insurance, or VAT and stated, “It was a choice to break our campaign commitment.”
“I believe it was the wrong decision to be made, I spoke out against it at the time in Cabinet, I still oppose it, and I’d reverse that rise,” the speaker said.
In Number 10, the foreign secretary promised to “put money back in people’s pockets from day one.”
In a criticism of Mr. Sunak’s policies, she also asserted that raising taxes during the cost-of-living problem was “morally incorrect.”
Mr. Sunak retaliated by asserting that it was “morally wrong” to place additional debt on future generations.
The ex-chancellor stated that it was immoral to expect our children and grandchildren to pay the bills we were unable to pay.
Both Mr. Sunak and Ms. Truss said they would consider fracking in Britain if local populations backed it in light of the anticipated increase in fuel prices this winter.
The Foreign Secretary spent the day campaigning in Sussex ahead of tonight’s discussion, while Mr. Sunak was in Stanmore, north London.
Ms. Truss questioned Mr. Sunak about the ex-“mansplaining” chancellor’s during yesterday night’s nasty TV debate on the BBC, but she declined to engage in another slanging fight with him.
As they prepared to square off against each other on live television for a second time, the duo had been persuaded to temper their vicious blue-on-blue assaults on one another.
As her campaign and Mr. Sunak’s considered the effects of their first face-to-face confrontation, the foreign secretary swore not to “criticise the other candidate in this contest.”
She told Sky News, “I’m not going to criticise the other candidate in this election.”
“I am making a case for what needs to change in Britain to unleash the potential of people everywhere,” I said.
Ms. Truss, though, asserted that Mr. Sunak’s proposals for the economy would be a “disaster” for homeowners, businesses, and employees while failing to engage in personal jabs.
She was questioned over the most recent IMF report on the state of the global economy, which was seen as supporting Mr. Sunak’s argument that delaying tax cuts and limiting expenditure was the best course of action.
Let’s be clear, his proposal is to raise taxes, Ms. Truss continued. He intends to increase corporate taxes to bring them up to parity with those in France.
“That will deter people from investing in Britain,” someone said. And I am aware that there are a tonne of opportunities nationwide.
“Limited investment will result in a future with fewer employment, fewer opportunities, lower salaries, and poorer productivity.
Thus, it is “cutting off our nose to make our face look bad.”
Regarding the UK’s economic policy, the Foreign Secretary cited the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The body, she added, had labelled Britain’s strategy as “contractionary,” and that, she continued, “means it will cause a recession.” The worst case scenario is a recession.
The situation would be disastrous for homeowners. People who commute to work would suffer greatly. For those who are in charge of businesses, it would be disastrous.
“For these reasons, I want to keep taxes low, draw in investment, and spur economic growth.” That will help us pay off our debt the fastest.
Mr. Sunak asserted that Ms. Truss’ strategy of lowering taxes and increasing borrowing has “nothing Conservative” about it.
A YouGov snap poll of 507 Conservative Party members conducted after yesterday night’s BBC debate revealed that Ms Truss was thought to have performed better, with 50% saying as much compared to Mr. Sunak’s 39%.
Similar to this, 78% of Tory members who saw the BBC discussion thought Ms. Truss did well, while 65% said the same about Mr. Sunak.