Alex Wickham, Buzzfeed: Johnson confirms he is rejecting Neil interview. Senior Con source: “The public are fed up with interviews that are all about the interviewer and endless interruptions. The format is tired and broken and needs to change if it is to start engaging and informing the public again.” Instead of facing Andrew Neil...“The PM will focus on talking to voters about their priorities including investing in our NHS and helping with the cost of living.” Tories say Johnson has done 117 interviews during the campaign, Marr and two head-to-heads with Corbyn.
Rob Burley, BBC: There’s a certain irony to this. Just over a week ago the Conservative Party posted the entire Jeremy Corbyn interview with Andrew Neil on the front of their Facebook page. They didn’t complain about the format then. Credit to Sturgeon, Corbyn, Swinson and Farage for showing up.
Andrew Neil, BBC: Well, Corbyn interview got 3.2m viewers. So not that "tired". The Tories posted it on Facebook. So not "tired" at all. "Tired" never raised when trying to fix time and date. This "source" is a "pyramid of piffle" PS to source: monologue got 4m+ views. So some voter interest.
John Simpson, BBC: Not surprised that Boris Johnson has ducked out of the Andrew Neil interview. It’d probably have done him a lot of damage, & he dared not risk it. But to suggest it’s in some way akin to facing Lord Buckethead is pretty insulting. Not just to Andrew, but also to our democracy.
Are all comments of bbc staffers with bbc tags?
ReplyDeleteThe last three are.
DeleteI listened to the Farage interview with Iain Dale today. Really enjoyed it. Dale gets stuff out of his prey in an old school fashion, and his timing is excellent. He moves on with topics and keeps things interesting. Most importantly, he can do confrontation without excessive ego. His interview with Widdecombe was good too.
ReplyDeleteSimpson's comment: "It’d probably have done him a lot of damage, & he dared not risk it."
ReplyDeleteThat's a political comment. Given Boris won the debate tonight according to You Gov, it's pure political prejudice for Simpson to assume Boris couldn't handle Neil.