Thursday 26 June 2014

'Tory' Jeremy Paxman says 'Newsnight' is 'made by 13-year olds'



This is quite something (h/t Sue):
The former host says his Conservative leanings made him a lone voice on the show as the younger producers wanted to change the world.
So, Boris was being quite shrewd then in joking that Paxo was "the last remaining one-nation Conservative in the BBC" on Jeremy's last edition of Newsnight. [Actually, I remember Boris joking about Jeremy being a Conservative in a Newsnight interview a year or two back too. Do you?]

The Telegraph article continues:
Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, about his book on the First World War, he answered questions from the audience about his memorable tandem bike ride through the streets of London with Boris Johnson, which featured on the final programme.
"I have to be frank, I suppose I am a one-nation Tory, yes," Paxman admitted. "Look, Newsnight is made by 13-year-olds. It's perfectly normal when you're young that you want to change the world.
"The older you get, the more you realise what a fools' errand much of that is and that the thing to do is to manage the best you can to the advantage of as many people as possible."
Paxman, who has had to be politically impartial throughout his journalism career, added of the interview: "It's complete b------s, of course, typical Boris."
On the question of whether he truly was the last Conservative at the BBC, he began to answer before stopping himself.
"If I had to...are there any members of the press here?" he said, at the sold-out event. "I think I'll plead the fifth on that one."
The public event also saw Paxman share his opinion of modern politics, saying: "I am in favour of governments getting out of people's lives. Particularly foreign government."
"The closer you can take decision-making to the people affected by those decisions, the better."
Europe, he said, had been the source of "nothing but trouble for us", and joked Belgium as a "pointless little country".
Well I never! Fancy the young makers of 'Newsnight' being out to "change the world"! (How would that square with BBC impartiality?)

Anyhow, so who will replace David Cameron as Conservative leader? Boris or Paxo? William Hill and Paddy Power await your bets.

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