In 2019, in one of several no-shows during the UK’s general election campaign, Boris Johnson refused to attend a televised leaders’ debate on climate change.
The broadcaster, Channel 4, decided to ‘empty chair’ him, replacing the prime minister – as it also did for the Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage – with an ice sculpture that melted away under studio lights as the debate took place.
The Conservatives’ response was to accuse Channel 4 of “a provocative partistan stunt” that was part of “a wider pattern of bias”, and threaten to review the broadcaster’s public service remit if they were re-elected.
