Dramatic moment as moderator collapses on live TV during UK leaders’ debate

A leaders’ debate featuring the two candidates to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been cut short after the moderator collapsed during the live broadcast.

TalkTV political editor Kate McCann fainted on set of the TV debate as Conservative Party leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss faced off for a second time.

Ms Truss was on camera talking about the UK’s response to the Ukraine War when there was a loud crash and Ms Truss raised her hands to her face in shock, before looking around the group and moving to where McCann had been standing .

The stream then went down within seconds and was replaced by a graphic saying there had been an outage.

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A spokesman for News UK, which owns TalkTV, confirmed there was a “medical issue” and that they hoped to be “back on the air soon”.

TalkTV later tweeted confirming that McCann had fainted and that while she is “fine”, the debate will be suspended.

“Kate McCann fainted on air tonight and although she is fine, medical advice was not to continue with the debate,” the statement said.

“We apologize to our viewers and listeners.”

Another reporter at the debate later tweeted that the candidates spoke directly to audience members after the incident.

McCann was presenting himself after co-presenter Harry Cole – the political editor of The Sun newspaper – pulled out after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day.

It was the second debate to feature Mr Sunak taking on Ms Truss after their first head-to-head meeting, which was broadcast on the BBC on Monday night.

The pair will continue to campaign for members of the Conservative Party for the next five weeks, with members then deciding in a postal vote who will be the next leader of the party, and in turn the British Prime Minister, who will to be announced on September 5.