Have I Got News For You to return with 'tribute' episode to Boris Johnson

Virgin Radio

17 Aug 2022, 11:26

Have I Got News For You is back and better than ever with a special episode dedicated to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The hit panel show will return to BBC One for its 64th series on Friday 2nd September and to mark the occasion, the debut episode will be titled ‘Have I Got News For Boris- A Special Tribute’.

As teased by the BBC, the special will take a trip down memory lane into the career of the Prime Minister and his time in the world of British politics the night before he leaves Downing Street after resigning last month.

This year, the series will be starting earlier than usual to make room for the scheduled coverage of the World Cup, commencing late November.

Comedian Jack Dee will be guest hosting the special episode with Ian Hislop and Paul Merton back in their respective Captain chairs.

Joining them on the panel so far is comedian Phil Wang and journalist Janet Street-Porter.

Last month, on 7th July, Boris Johnson announced that he would resigning as PM after a record number of Tory MPs and key members of the cabinet quit following the scandal surrounding Chris Pincher.

Addressing the nation in a speech at the time of his resignation, Johnson said: “It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.”

He added: “And I regret not to have been successful in those arguments, and of course it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.

“But as we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful, and when the herd moves, it moves.

“And my friends in politics, no-one is remotely indispensable and our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader, equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.”

The ex-Prime Minister concluded by saying: “I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed.

“And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.”

At the time, leader of the opposition Keir Starmer, joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show to give his opinion on who should takeover Johnson when he eventually leaves Downing Street.

He said: “I don't think just changing the person at the top of the Tory party is going to fix the massive problems they've gotten us into. We need a much more fundamental change. We need a general election, we need to change government, we need a fresh start.

“You can't do that with this tired out of ideas, government, even if you change the person at the top. So, we want more fundamental change than, we want a fresh start, and that's only going to happen if we have a general election.”

Have I Got News For You returns on Friday 2nd September on BBC One.