Debate Between Sunak and Truss Cancelled After Moderator Faints on Air

The debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss on Tuesday, 26 July, got cancelled after the moderator, Kate McCann, fainted on air.

(Photo: Twitter/@errongordon)

The debate between the two candidates for the next Conservative Leader who would become the British prime minister – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss –on Tuesday, 26 July, got cancelled after the moderator, Kate McCann, fainted on air.

The telecast was abruptly halted around the halfway mark after a loud crash was heard, and Foreign Secretary Truss could be seen covering her hands in shock.

TalkTV, one of the hosts of the debate, said that McCann was doing "fine" but she had been given medical advice not to carry on with the programme.

"We apologise to our viewers and listeners," the channel said in a statement.

Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer, took to Twitter to write about McCann. "Good news that you’re already recovering," he wrote, tagging McCann.

"It was a great debate and I look forward to getting grilled by you again shortly," he added.

The latest polls suggest that Truss is the current favourite among the 1,60,000 fee-paying members of the Conservative Party who will decide their leader. The winner will also go on to become the prime minister of the UK.

Members can vote from early August until 2 September. The result will be declared on 5 September.

(With inputs from Reuters and the BBC.)