BBC Radio 4 presenter Mishal Husain stunned Today listeners when she said the word “s***” seven times in one minute during an interview with James Cleverly.
British journalist Husain, 50, quizzed the home secretary over the asylum claims backlog and the investigation into Baronness Michelle Mone and her husband’s alleged profiteering over a PPE contract at the height of Covid, during Tuesday’s (2 January) episode of theToday programme.
She also brought up recent controversies stemming from Cleverly’s own alleged use of expletives during the tense interview.
“There have been a number of times now, recently, when things you have said have [got] you into trouble,” Husain, who has hosted the show for a decade, said.
“There was the time it was reported [that] you had called a government policy was ‘bats***’, there was the personal place you referred to in parliament that was a ‘s***hole’.”
While Cleverly, 54, did not deny calling the Rwanda scheme “bats***”, he hit back at claims he used the derogatory term to describe Labour MP Alex Cunningham’s Stockton North constituency in the House of Commons last November.
”You didn’t use the word ‘s***hole’ in parliament?” Husain challenged Cleverly, who reiterated: “No, I didn’t.”
He continued: “You need to do better research because I’ve made it very, very clear that what I said, I was referring to an individual.”
Husain brought up recent controversies stemming from Cleverly’s own alleged use of the swear word during the tense interview— (Getty)
Facing calls to apologise for allegedly using the swear word to describe the Labour-run constituency last November, Cleverly previously admitted using “inappropriate language” in his criticism of Cunningham but denied insulting Stockton.
“You used the word ‘s***’ didn’t you,” Husain challenged Cleverly during Tuesday’s episode of Today.
“Yes I did, but the point is what you just accused me of is very very different and completely wrong,” he replied.
Husain conceded: “Ok, you say that you did say that a person was a s***. Other people heard different things.
“Other people say you said s**hole, you say you said s***.”
Radio 4 listeners reacted to the “absolute car crash of an interview” on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Incredible start to 2024 as Mishal Husain says “s***” seven times in the space [of] 60 seconds on Today,” one user wrote.
LBC presenter James O’Brien commented: “Just let Mishal Husain do *all* the interviews.”
Another comment, echoing O’Brien’s tweet, read: “Mishal Husain should do every interview on BBC Radio 4.”
Husain’s interview with Cleverly aired on the same day that he apologised for making a joke about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug.
Cleverly made the joke last month, shortly after the Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking. He joked about putting “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night,” adding that it was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”.
Cleverly’s comments, made during what he believed was a private conversation at Downing Street, triggered a furious backlash and sparked calls for him to resign or be sacked by prime minister Rishi Sunak.
He addressed the controversy during a Sky News interview on Tuesday, explaining: “It was a joke that I made and of course you know I regret it and I apologised immediately, and that apology is heartfelt.
“I’m sorry because it clearly caused hurt, it’s potentially distracted from the work we were doing to tackle spiking to help predominantly women who are the victims of spiking and I regret that. But I’m absolutely determined to continue the work that I’ve been doing for years,” he added.
