Nicky Morgan pulls out of Have I Got News For You?
- Published
Mrs Morgan was sacked by the incoming prime minister in June
Tory MP Nicky Morgan has pulled out of a planned appearance on Have I Got News for You, after a row over her criticism of Theresa May's wardrobe.
The satirical TV show said the former education secretary had pulled out of Friday's show owing to "unforeseen circumstances".
She angered Downing Street by querying why the PM had spent £995 on a pair of leather trousers.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson joked that they were actually "lederhosen".
The so-called "trousergate" row dominated several newspaper front pages, with a number of Conservative MPs having their say on the matter.
Mrs Morgan had been booked in September to appear on this week's Have I Got News For You, due to be hosted by Match of Day presenter Gary Lineker.
But Hat Trick Productions, which makes the long-running satirical show for BBC One, said she would no longer be taking part. No reason has been given.
Boris Johnson offered his own sartorial opinion
Mrs Morgan, who was education secretary under Mrs May's predecessor, David Cameron, appears to have annoyed Downing Street in recent days.
After Mrs May was photographed for the Sunday Times in a pair of flared "bitter chocolate" leather trousers, Mrs Morgan said: "I don't think I've ever spent that much on anything apart from my wedding dress."
The Mail on Sunday then showed a tense series of text message exchanges between Ms Morgan and the prime minister's joint chief of staff, Fiona Hill.
In a speech on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has been the subject of jokes by the prime minister, made light of the situation.
He joked of Mrs May - who went on a walking holiday in the Swiss Alps this summer: "Our wonderful PM actually wears lederhosen."
Lederhosen are actually leather shorts, rather than long trousers, connected to the chest and shoulders via straps, and are traditionally worn in parts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They were sported by the Von Trapp boys in the 1960s musical film The Sound of Music.
Lederhosen, worn here at an annual cattle drive in Germany
The cheapest pair of lederhosen shown on bavaria-lederhosen.com sells for just under 65 euros (£54.50).
Meanwhile, Sir Bernard Ingham, press secretary to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has warned that Downing Street must "learn how better to handle" Mr Johnson, whom he dubbed "the blond bombshell".
He said: "Mrs May - and certainly her apparatchiks - are acquiring an early reputation for slapping down wayward ministers when there are gentler ways of coping with their deviation from the straight and narrow.
"Perhaps Johnson has for too long led a relatively carefree existence as a journalist, backbencher and Mayor of London - not to mention campaigning for the Tory leadership - to hold himself in check in central government.
"If so, he had better soon accept he is now only a cog - though a big one - in a wider machine. Otherwise, things could get awkward."
- Published12 December 2016
