When Cameron faced down Paxman
James Forsyth 10:52am
Reading Decca Aitkenhead’s profile of Jeremy Paxman in The Guardian today, I was reminded of David Cameron’s Newsnight interview back in November 2005. Cameron’s electrifying conference speech and his victory in the MP’s ballot had made him the prohibitive favourite to win the leadership. The Paxman interview, though, was widely regarded as the time when we would see if Cameron could take a heavyweight punch.
Cameron turned in a superb performance (you can watch it here), one that sealed the leadership for him and established him as a heavyweight on the scene. He threw Paxman onto the defensive, telling him, “This is the trouble with these interviews, Jeremy. You come in, sit someone down and treat them like they are some cross between a fake or a hypocrite. You give no time to anyone to answer any of your questions. It does your profession no favours at all and it's no good for political discourse." After this interview, it was clear that Cameron was not going to be another Tory leader who was going to be chewed up by the media.
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Wilhelm
February 9th, 2009 11:49am Report this commentPaxman is a bore, he thinks he's Mr tough guy but he blubbed like a baby when he found out his granny was from Govan and lived in the gutter. He thinks by being rude, interupting every 7 seconds, asking gotcha questions, thats
a good interviewing technique. Alan Whicker or David Frost never does that
Jeremy Paxman aint no Walter Cronkite.
CS
February 9th, 2009 12:17pm Report this commentIt also helped that Paxman, apparently pissed off that someone had nicked his bike that morning, started off the interview with a question about nipples and pussies.
If Cameron had been taken aback, it might have gone down as some brilliantly incisive question but, as Cameron barely raised an eyebrow, Paxman just ended up coming across as being more interested in embarrassing him than interviewing him. Way to put the audience on your interviewer's side, Jeremy.
It was the same when he later asked Cameron if he went to church, no doubt hoping to repeat his previous famous question asking Blair if he and Bush prayed together. I thought Cameron's reply of "probably not as often as I ought to" was almost perfect as it played to that great British totem: a reverence for tradition but not enough to actually get off one's arse and do something about it.
I suspect that even the most atheist voter is quite happy for a leader to believe in God provided he doesn't get religious about it.
Roger Thornhill
February 9th, 2009 2:16pm Report this commentCameron came across as an able performer, but, as has been shown, he has a focus on winning, not winning people over. No ideological basis, AFAICT.
CS
February 9th, 2009 3:56pm Report this commentWhy would anyone want a leader who follows an ideology? Yes, you may want a leader who has particular ideas about how to run the economy and how to solve problems but please don't give us ideologues.
Ideology is the curse of politics. You start off trying to grow the economy and produce more jobs by fighting inflation. Then fighting inflation becomes an ideology which must be preferred in all cases. So you end up announcing that high unemployment is a small price to pay for low inflation, forgetting the original purpose of having low inflation.
Paul B
February 9th, 2009 6:05pm Report this commentWell said CS, you need pragmatists, with balanced overall views, who can achieve the possible rather than dreaming of the impossible.
Paul B
February 9th, 2009 6:08pm Report this commentI also agree with Wilhelm, Paxman is a bore and bully. I hold no candle for Blair, but I felt for him when Paxman sneered his infamous remark about praying together with George W. Insulting word rhyming with Petrol Tanker come to mind.
Hysteria
February 9th, 2009 9:01pm Report this commentnot seen this interview before - does explain a little why the BBC give him a hard time!
Interesting comments re the "share the proceeds of growth" and a good observation on what Brown's policy was at the time (2005)(more borrowing)
Comment re "economy could be shrinking.." !!!!!
LS
February 10th, 2009 8:12am Report this commentHadn't seen that before, amazingly, but I think the appropriate term is "PWNED". :)
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