A live debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, ended dramatically halfway through its scheduled hour on Tuesday night when the journalist moderating the clash between the two Prime Ministerial candidates collapsed on stage with a loud crash.

Viewers did not see the presenter, Kate McCann, fall down but they heard the sound of her lectern smashing down and a look of horror on Truss’s face as she mouthed, “Oh, my God!” The debate had been organised jointly by The Sun newspaper and TalkTV, a niche television station started by Rupert Murdoch on April 25 this year.

One of the co-presenters, Harry Cole, political editor of the Sun, had to pull out at the last minute after testing positive for Covid. It was then left to McCann, political editor of TalkTV, to do the show on her own. The debate began at 6pm, with McCann providing adept at preventing Rishi and Truss from either talking over each other or descending into the acrimonious exchanges that had been an unpleasant feature of their encounter the previous evening on the BBC.

Truss, who is five years older than Rishi, was celebrating her 47th birthday — and the former had even mentioned that in a friendly manner. All went well until 6.31pm when an almighty crash was heard accompanied by the look of panic on Truss’s face. The Mail’s sketch writer, Henry Deedes, had a piece, headlined, “Oh my God, cried Liz as the host swooned. It was drama, just not the sort they wanted.”

“Well, that was a pretty hairy moment,” he wrote later. “There was a crash, a gasp and a popping of eyeballs. Suddenly Liz Truss was holding her face in horror. ‘Oh my God!’ she yelled. Then, zoink! The programme was pulled.” “We were just half an hour into the latest live Tory leadership debate on TalkTV last night when suddenly there was a heart-in-the-gob, reachfor-the-gin-bottle moment,” he continued. “Viewers worried they might have just witnessed something horrific. Something disastrous must have occurred, we thought. A heart attack? An electric shock? A fallen light rigging — or worse?”

The broadcast immediately went off-air, with a message appearing on the screen that read: “‘We’re sorry for the disruption to this programme. We’re working hard to fix the issue and will return to normal programming soon.” TalkTV carried plugs for its other programmes but one of its presenters said half an hour later that there had been a “medical issue”. Then came a report that McCann had fainted.

Some readers suggested sarcastically that while Truss appeared to have rushed to McCann’s help, Rishi was probably on his way to his home in California. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The Sun did set the record straight: “Rishi Sunak rushed over to Kate McCann and held her hand after debate host fainted during the live broadcast. “He and Liz Truss were making their pitch for the PM to Sun readers and the nation in a prime-time showdown until the debate was cut short at 6.31pm. “Eyewitnesses told The Sun how Mr Sunak raced to Kate’s side.

Ms Truss also went to check on the presenter and both candidates were seen kneeling down checking she was ok. The candidates continued fielding questions from Sun readers after the show went off the air.” There was also a formal explanation from a spokesman for TalkTV: “Kate McCann fainted on air tonight and although she is fine, the medical advice was that we shouldn’t continue with the debate.”