"Today hasn’t taken a collective decision on this, it’s my personal policy"
Like all broadcasters, [Nick] Robinson receives non-stop flak for bias. Twitter loves reminding us that in 1987 he was briefly chairman of the National Young Conservatives. Less reported is the fact that Labour approached him (unsuccessfully) to become Ed Miliband’s spin doctor. His friends and family also give him grief if they feel their views have not received sufficient airtime.
"Like everyone, they’re feeling rage and anger; passions are higher than they’ve ever been. I get a lot of, ‘Why didn’t you ask this?’ ” For that reason, he’s started actively trying to reveal the show’s mechanisms to listeners, this week pointing out that the government was unable to field anyone to defend its withdrawing the whip from rebel Tory MPs. “If you’re ranting about why the other point of view has been forgotten, I want to be able say, ‘It will be on in an hour’ or the reason you will not be hearing a minister defend this is because they chose not to put up a candidate. Today hasn’t taken a collective decision on this, it’s my personal policy.”
