EMILY Maitlis says Dominic Cummings texted her a message of support following the furore over her Newsnight monologue.
The TV presenter sparked controversy with her summing up of his lockdown row.
The BBC said the episode âdid not meet our standards of due impartialityâ, while its head of news, Fran Unsworth, said it belonged âmore on the op-ed page in a newspaperâ.
But Maitlis told Tatler magazine that the Prime Ministerâs chief adviser âsent me a text of supportâ.
âIt was peak surreal getting a message of support from him in the middle of all the crazy stuff,â she said.
In the monologue, Maitlis said the Prime Ministerâs chief adviser had âbroken the rulesâ and âthe country can see that, and itâs shocked the Government cannotâ.
Maitlis said she had more support from viewers after the controversy than she did following her interview with the Duke of York.
âI think that was the biggest Iâve had â more than Andrew, more than anything. I was overwhelmed by it,â she said.
âI wasnât expecting such a flood of warmth.â
Maitlis said Andrew âwas very pleasedâ after the interview.
âHe was actually so generous with his time. He took us on a tour of the extraordinary corridor of Buckingham Palace, he pointed out the statues, the staircases and where the Queen has her audiences with prime ministers.
âHe said to me, âNext time you come, weâll talk about Prince Albert. He was the entrepreneur of the familyâ.â
But the presenter said she had not âgrasped exactly what was in the interview until I finishedâ.
Maitlis added: âYouâre so determined not to miss a beat, to check with yourself you havenât used the wrong tone or got something stupendously wrong, that actually youâre not sitting there grinning, thinking, âHahaha! Thatâs amazing!ââ
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