UK PM debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss halted after host faints on air
- Live footage shows Foreign Minister Truss exclaiming as she is interrupted by a sudden crash about halfway into the hour-long event
- Moderator Kate McCann is ‘fine’, the channel says, but ‘the medical advice was that we shouldn’t continue with the debate’
The latest televised debate between the two Conservative contenders vying to be Britain’s next prime minister was abruptly halted on Tuesday evening after the moderator fainted on stage.
Live footage of the debate, between former finance minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s new “TalkTV” channel, was suddenly interrupted about halfway into the hour-long event.
Moments earlier, Truss had stopped speaking mid-sentence with a shocked look on her face as the sound of crashing in front of her engulfed the broadcast.
“Oh my God!” a stunned Truss exclaimed, before leaving her podium to walk towards where the debate moderator, TalkTV’s political editor Kate McCann, had been standing off camera.
The channel, which launched in April and was hosting the debate alongside The Sun newspaper, later confirmed McCann had fainted.
“Although she is fine, the medical advice was that we shouldn’t continue with the debate,” it added in a short statement.