Andrew Marr Monitoring Update

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.

If you were especially looking forward to the latest instalment of Is the BBC biased?'s scintillating Andrew Marr Show election coverage, then here (very belatedly) are the results for last week's show, beginning with the usual transcriptions of Andy's intros (which will all be compared and contrasted after the election). 

Here's his main introduction: 

Good morning to you and, at last, some real meat - some detailed policies in the election campaign - and not just details, the biggest issues of all: how much tax you will be paying and how confident you can be about the National Health Service after polling day. The health secretary Jeremy Hunt joins me this morning to talk about new plans on mental health and the Tory record on the NHS. And what of Labour's tax plans? Jeremy Corbyn's left-hand man and shadow chancellor John McDonnell joins us to reveal all - or so I hope. Also today, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, on the dangers of interrogating politicians too closely on their faith. Plus, during times when we focus on bad behaviour in public life, Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill on a raw and still shocking play about drunkenness and family collapse. And we have music from one of the UK's biggest new acts, Rag'n'Bone Man. And reviewing the news today... a dynamic trio:The political editor of Buzzfeed, Jim Waterson, the Labour adviser turned stand-up comic, Ayesha Hazarika and the Conservative commentator, Tim Montgomerie. All that after the news...

And his introduction to the interview with Uncle John McDonnell:

After very disappointing local election results, Labour has a new and cunning plan. According to yesterday's Guardian, the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is to be deployed to reveal more about his values and his personal story. Sounds intriguing, and he man himself is here.

And his introduction to the interview with Jeremy (Careful Jim!) Hunt:

For a lot of voters, the central issue in this election campaign is the condition of our most loved institution, the National Health Service. But these have not been easy years for the NHS or for those working in it and the Health Secretary responsible for the NHS in England may have his work cut out explaining why its future will be brighter under the Tories. And he joins me now.

The John McDonnell interview lasted 11m 35s and Andrew Marr interrupted him 15 times, resulting in an Interruption Coefficient of 1.3. The Jeremy Hunt interview lasted 14m 52s and contained 22 interruptions, resulting in an I.C. of 1.5 (i.e. slightly higher and, therefore, tougher). If we add those to our list, it now looks like this:

Paul Nuttall, UKIP - 1.6

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative - 1.5

John McDonnell, Labour - 1.3

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour - 1.2

Theresa May, Conservatives - 1.1

Tim Farron, Lib Dems - 0.6

Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru - 0.5 

The UKIP man is still 'winning'. 

As for the content of this week's political interviews, the John McDonnell interview broke down as 34% on party politics, 25% on whether he's a Marxist or not, and 41% on tax and borrowing. The Jeremy Hunt interview spent 61% of  the time on the NHS and 39% of the time on Brexit. The bits on Brexit mainly looked at the effects on Brexit on the NHS and whether the EU is "rigging our election"; the (non-Brexit) bits on the NHS looked at NHS waiting times (36% of the whole interview), the nurses' pay freeze, NHS funding and funding for mental health within the NHS.