Emily Maitlis, 48, caused a social media frenzy when she appeared to roll her eyes at Labour MP Barry Gardiner during a live broadcast on Brexit, earlier this year. The correspondent has now spoken out about the drama which unfolded with her reaction on Newsnight going viral. Speaking to Good Housekeeping magazine, Emily divulged: “It was bizarre. I don’t think I realised until I woke up the next morning and checked Twitter, it was trending. “I could not remember it at first and when I did I thought ‘Oh no,’ and ‘Has that landed me in trouble?’”
She continued: “It wasn’t meant to be a political position.
“I have reached an age where I think, ‘I have done this long enough, I am not being stupid, you’ve not answered the questions’”.
Emily’s eye roll comes after she reacted to Labour MP Barry who would not say what “Brexit vision” would be in Labour’s manifesto, just days before the UK was originally leaving the EU.
He began: ”To negotiate the deal that we have set out,” before Emily interjected: “That’s going to be on the leaflet?”
The politician continued: ”Well, we will decide what our manifesto position is as we normally do, it’s a democratic party it’s not made up by one person on Newsnight as you know.”
At which point, Emily made the facial expression which went viral on social media.
She also addressed the awkward moment during an appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show, earlier this year.
Emily said she hadn’t “disagreed” with the Labour MPs policy but just wanted the “truth”.
Speaking on the ITV show, she divulged: “It wasn’t that I disagreed with a policy, I’d just been speaking to the Conservative Minister, then I went to the Labour Minister and I was just like, ‘Somebody please just tell me the truth, please just explain your position’ because neither one of them had.
“My job is just to elicit some kind of sense for the audience, some sort of an answer that makes sense, that’s what everyone watches us for, they don’t want my opinion but they do want me to try and understand what they are telling us.”
Elsewhere, she has opened up about her thoughts on the response to Brexit.
The Newsnight host admitted the political climate has prompted viewers of the BBC show to become more “engaged” in the news.
Emily explained to Good Housekeeping: “I think it’s made people simultaneously more engaged with politics and more frustrated and dismissive of politics.”
In spite of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the broadcaster insisted it has been “incredible” in terms of the response it inspires from audiences.
Emily added: “It has been incredible in terms of the response of the audience to it; it has made news very vital and alive.”
The full interview can be seen in Good Housekeeping’s October issue, out now.