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Boris Johnson’s Election Campaign Goes From Oven-Ready to Fridge-Cold

Boris Johnson this morning hid inside a fridge to avoid scrutiny on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme

Boris Johnson Campaigns For Conservatives On Eve Of UK Election Photo by Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Before dawn this morning, Boris Johnson dressed up as a “modern milkman.” On the final day of campaigning before Britain heads to the polls, the prime minister is in Leeds attempting to sway undecided voters by..... delivering them milk.

Jonathan Swain from ITV’s Good Morning Britain, fronted by Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, attempted to score some time with Johnson but were prevented from doing so by Johnson aide and press secretary Robert Oxley (disposable cup guy) who appeared annoyed and inconvenienced by the temerity of a journalist expecting the prime minster might be subjected to a question or two and a little scrutiny on the eve of the election. Exasperated, Oxley says, “for fucks sake,” while Johnson remains shielded from reporters and their cameras.

Morgan and Reid gasped. “Ooooh, oooooo,” they said.

“The. Look. On. His. Face,” Reid said.

“Wow!” That minder,” said Morgan. “You’re not getting near Boris, look at that.”

Cut back to the reporter: “Prime Minister will you come on Good Morning Britain and deliver on your promise to talk to Piers and Susanna?”

Swain pursued Johnson, reminded him and Oxley that they were live on the air. Johnson says, “I’ll be with you in a second,” before walking off, flanked by minders, prompting Morgan to announce “he’s gone into the fridge”.

The Conservative press team are understood to have tightened the prime minister’s media appearances since a controversial interview on Monday with ITV’s Joe Pike, in which Johnson pocketed the reporter’s phone after refusing to look at a photograph of a four-year-old boy on a hospital floor in Leeds.

A confident Johnson has spent the election boasting that his divisive Brexit deal is “oven-ready”, that it just needs “slamming” in the microwave. With his party’s projected vote share tightening day by day, on the eve of polling day, sweating and hiding in a fridge, is it possible that the prime minister might now be feeling the..... heat?

The Guardian reports that Conservative sources subsequently insisted that Johnson was “categorically not hiding” in the fridge.

At the time of writing #fridgegate is the U.K.’s number one trending topic on Twitter, leading to a deluge of jokes and memes about a “chilly reception,” being chicken, and gammon.

And to sum up the morning’s events, Morgan later tweeted, “Cowardice is never a good look...”