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TV presenter Kay Burley has mocked the Tory party chairman after he failed to turn up for a pre-arranged interview.

James Cleverly did the rounds on ITV and BBC but faced the wrath of the Sky News anchor when he did not put in appearance.

The host was visibly fuming and proceeded to interview an empty chair, listing what she would have asked him.

In a three-minute rant, Ms Burley said: ‘I know that the spin doctors at Number 10 Downing Street had absolutely reassured me via text that when politicians were doing rounds in the morning they would be doing this programme.




‘And yet, we have an empty chair. Where on earth is he? He is 15 feet away from me, James Cleverly, who is the chair of the Conservative Party and he says he will not come on this programme to answer all of those allegations.’

The screen repeatedly showed an empty chair (Picture: Sky News)

Ms Burley listed a range of items she wanted to talk about, including Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Grenfell Tower comments, calls for the Welsh secretary to resign, the row over Brexit transition and his party’s failure over the report into Russian interference.

She added: ‘I also wanted to ask him whether he thought that the Conservatives were having a good day.

‘I also wanted to ask him about his suggestion – or certainly his boss’ suggestion – that Jeremy Corbyn was demonising billionaires and whether it was a good idea to defend billionaires at the start of the campaign.’

Tory Party Chairman James Cleverly did the rounds on BBC and ITV this morning (Picture: ITV)

Mr Cleverly took to Twitter to say his no-show was because he was booked to appear on a TalkRadio show at the same time.

He added: ‘I’m good at multitasking but cannot be in two studios at the same time.’

A source told the Independent that he had not been booked to appear on Sky, adding: ‘It is totally false to say he ducked the interview in any way, shape or form.

‘He has done a full round of interviews this morning.’

Kay Burley listed a string of topics she wanted to grill James Cleverly over (Picture: Sky News)

Mr Cleverly had to defend Mr Rees-Mogg who has faced widespread criticism after he suggested that Grenfell fire victims should have used ‘common sense’ and ignored advice by firefighters to ‘stay put.’

He also came to the aid of prospective Gower MP Francesca O’Brien, who tweeted that people featured in reality TV show Benefits Street needed ‘putting down’.

And he faced questions about a Tory campaign video that critics claim had been ‘doctored’.

Some Sky News viewers took to social media to suggest that Mr Cleverly needed to organise his diary better if, indeed, he had been double-booked.

One person quipped: ‘The chair gave better answers than you would have done anyway.’