‘Boris bolt’: LBC bolted down guest seat to stop former PM dodging cameras

Guardian:

‘Boris bolt’: LBC bolted down guest seat to stop former PM dodging cameras

Seat screwed down after Boris Johnson had tendency to roll out of shot of webcam during tough interviews as mayor of London

LBC host Nick Ferrari said Boris Johnson would ‘just drift off camera’ when asked difficult questions. Photograph: PA


The guest seat in Nick Ferrari’s LBC studio was bolted to the floor after Boris Johnson kept escaping off-camera in tough interviews during his tenure as mayor of London, the presenter has revealed.

In an interview with Radio Times, Ferrari said the chair was now firmly attached to a plate in the studio floor so interviewees stay in shot of the webcam and avoid doing what LBC staff refer to as the “Boris bolt”.

The former prime minister was regularly interviewed in a segment of Ferrari’s show called Ask Boris while he was the mayor of London between 2008 and 2016 where he would routinely make headlines with flippant comments.

When challenged on tough subjects, he would mumble and roll the chair out of shot, the presenter said, which led to it being fixed in place.

“That is the Boris bolt,” Ferrari said. “[When we were] doing the Ask Boris shows and he was mayor, he’d be asked why he was cancelling the 63 bus and he’d just drift off camera.”

He added: “[Former commissioner of the Metropolitan police] Cressida Dick went to move her chair when she was in the studio but couldn’t. I told her off air why they were bolted in place and she said: ‘We do this in our interview rooms so our officers don’t get hit over the head with them.’”

Ferrari, who previously said he was a fan of Johnson and also admitted to liking Keir Starmer, was asked whether the government got a free pass on his show.

“Not at all … it’s terrible at the moment, embarrassing,” he said. “Let the voters have their say, but it won’t be so bad to have a complete change because it will refresh everything. The party looks absolutely knackered. Let’s be honest, the talent puddle has been well and truly drained.

“[If Labour win the next election] it will probably mean that I can be a little bit more on the front foot and try to hit a few more sixes and fours, rather than just doing a little tickle for a couple of runs.”