Emily Maitlis has said she had sympathy for Theresa May when she interviewed her about the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, despite giving her a tough time.
The Prime Minister was questioned by the BBC presenter in the aftermath of the atrocity.
Street scenes of food throughout Notting hill to help #GrenfellTower residents pic.twitter.com/pGdc979CGR
— emily m (@maitlis) June 14, 2017
Maitlis, who volunteered by sorting donations before presenting Newsnight from the scene, said of the interview: “Friends told me it was the angriest they had ever seen me.”
She told Radio Times magazine: “Let me say here, for the record, that actually I had enormous sympathy for Theresa May that day.
“She looked spent and exhausted a week after a failed election, a summer of terrorism and tragedy on this inconceivable scale.
“The reason I went so hard that day was because – I think – I had heard and seen the anger first hand. This was no longer an intellectual exercise.”
She added: “Survivors were turning up, shell-shocked and looking for someone to tell them what to do, where to go. There were very few people in authority there.
“That day was powered by volunteers – amazing people who got their act together when no-one else seemed to have a clue what to do.”
Maitlis said that the tragedy “horrified and disturbed me for many nights to come.”