Cameron is Mr Reasonable on Today
Peter Hoskin 9:06am
Another day, another party leader on the Today Programme. This time it was David
Cameron, and his interrogator was Evan Davis. My quick capsule review would be that the Tory leader did quite well, sounding measured and reasonable for most of the twenty minutes - which is
certainly better than Brown managed yesterday. But for more, read on...
Unsurprisingly, Davis led on this morning's FT interview with Peter Gershon, the Tories' efficiency advisor, who has fleshed out some of the party's spending plans. This was the most aggressive segment of the interview, with Davis asking how many job losses would be incurred by a "£2 billion saving on public sector pay rolls." And Cameron explained, clearly enough, that it's "not about firing people - it's about not filling vacancies when they arise." When pushed for an actual number, he seemed to agree that this would mean about 20,000-40,000 fewer jobs than if Labour were in charge. And, in a slight sign of the Tories' growing intellectual self-confidence, he also agreed that you could summarise the Tory position as "core public spending will be lower, taxes will be lower".
Indeed, agreement was the order of the day - and Cameron used the tactic to defuse many of Davis's questions. When Davis said, rightly, that many £billions more would need to be cut in future, in addition to what the Tories have announced now, Cameron simply said: "Even after our plans for public sector pay and pensions, benefits, ID cards - yes, it's still not enough. I accept that." But he added that we'd need to wait until the Tories have sifted through the books before we hear more.
There was even a rare mis-step from Davis, as he questioned whether the Tories were right to blame Gordon Brown for a rising gap between rich and poor. "The respected IFS," said Davis, "say that Brown's tax credits and benefit measures have reduced the gap from what it would have been otherwise." Well, perhaps. But the gap has still increased over the New Labour years, and Davis got so tongue-tied trying to explain this that his words came out as: "So the gap has reduced, and, yes, the gap has increased." To which Cameron replied: "So you agree with us, then. You just said that the gap has increased." It was striking to then hear the Tory leader paraphrase that "tough on the causes of crime" maxim, by saying that "you can't just transfer money from the rich to the poor, you've got to tackle the reasons why people are poor in the first place." Very true.
As the interview relaxed, towards the end, Cameron almost came unstuck on the kind of "What's your favourite biscuit?" type question which befuddled Brown a few months ago. "Which is your newspaper?" asked Evan Davis - to which, Cameron umm-ed and ahh-ed, clearly concerned that to name one paper or another would risk alienating millions of voters who read something else. In the end, he just said that "this is not the stage on which to make enemies of newspapers."
Cameron then wrapped things up with a frank admission that he hadn't removed the Punch and Judy element from British politics. "Prime Minister's Questions is like ... the Christians being fed to the lions in the Colosseum. You're either a Christian or your a lion," he said. An ok analogy, I thought. But I can see tomorrow's Labour posters already: "Cameron eats Christians in the House of Commons".
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JohnPage
April 9th, 2010 9:37am Report this commentHow wise of a Tory supporter to omit the passage on Green policies, where Cameron seemed to flirt with tolls on existing roads. He's a green loonie.
JohnOfEnfield
April 9th, 2010 9:37am Report this commentDave was much more human, confidant, flexible & relaxed than constipated, arrogant Brown.
Vulture
April 9th, 2010 9:40am Report this commentDave got lucky in getting the soft cop Welshman rather than the one who lights your fag, then stubs it out on your face : his interviewer was Davis, who is basically a cuddly purring pussy cat, rather than Humphries: a pit bull who would have chewed his ankles and not let go.
Davis is a nice guy and however hard he plays the hard nut, it never quite comes off.
Having said that, Dave played the soft balls well. Who's the greatest PM of the century ? asked ED, hoping he would say 'Thatcher' and alienate the Thatcher-hating half of Britain. Dave played safe and said Churchill. Well, even he wouldn't say Bliar or Bruin would he?
Colin
April 9th, 2010 9:42am Report this commentI thought Davis sounded desperate at times. It was as if he had taken a briefing from labour HQ and needed to get through his planted script at all costs.
Charles Flaccidwidger
April 9th, 2010 9:43am Report this commentI thought he came across as measured and reasonable during pretty much all of the interview. What was extremely irritating and let to me shouting at my radio was the constant interruptions from Evan Davis. Contrast this with most of the Brown interview with Humphreys yesterday where the only interruption was at the end when Brown wanted to criticise the Tories...
saltirethinking
April 9th, 2010 9:43am Report this commentCameron was superb and made Evan sound shrill and rather waspish.
I think we have found our next Prime Minister.
Yosemite Sam
April 9th, 2010 9:49am Report this commentI heard the interview and I think this is a fair summary of content and flavour. Is Evan Davies a less aggressive interviewer than John Humphreys? I am not sure - but Cameron did handle him well. Whenever, the question of public sector job losses comes up in the next few days, and it will, can Tory spokesmen please point out that MORE jobs would be lost if the rise went ahead.
John David Barnett
April 9th, 2010 9:51am Report this commentAnother case of "lead" instead of "led". What an appalling howler for a quality magazine! I despair. When I started reading the Spectator in 1955 this kind of thing would never have happened.
Michael Sweeney
April 9th, 2010 9:56am Report this commentCameron did very well. I particularly enjoyed Cameron's comment about the Daily Star being his favourite newspaper. You just couldn't imagine the Prime Mentalist being so amusing.
Fred Blogs
April 9th, 2010 10:04am Report this commentNever mind alienating the readers of other newspapers, perhaps he didn't want to alienate the readers of his favourite paper?
Johnnyboy
April 9th, 2010 10:07am Report this commentPeter, when pressed on his choice of newspaper Cameron eventually said 'Daily Star'... you may have missed it since the verbose Davis had already moved on - a little joke I think and quite funny too. Certainly not the type of witty aside that the cretin Brown would be capable of contributing, let alone thinking. That sums up the difference between the two really. One is normal, the other one isn't. One is electable, the other one isn't.
I'm off down the bookies before the odds shorten even further.
Naomi Muse
April 9th, 2010 10:08am Report this commentCameron did well.
Evan Davis does not really work as an interrogative interviewer. He appears to want to work on the 'same side of the desk' in a comparing notes way rather than straight questions and answers.
Lord Monkington-Smythe
April 9th, 2010 10:55am Report this commentHe was lucky he got Evan Davis. Gordon Brown sounded like he wanted to cry after ten minutes of Humphries, who did what no other interviewer seems capable of doing, and that was forcing him to answer a question. I particularly liked the way that Humphries nipped Brown's inevitable tractor stats in the bud by saying "Yes, I'm coming to that in a minute" and then smashing him with his own quotes "boom and bust" etc. as McDoom burbled uncomfortably.
I was looking forward to seeing how Dave would deal with it, but he got lucky. As they say, when things are going well, luck is on your side.
Pete Hoskin
April 9th, 2010 10:57am Report this commentJohn David Barnett: apologies, I wrote this post, at pace, on a mobile phone - so silly errors do creep in. It should have been corrected now.
Ahiata
April 9th, 2010 10:58am Report this commentWell ED was rather poor and very wordy. DC sounded reasonable, rather posh, but sadly for me, vacuous.
There needs to be more detail - and where is George Osborne? He seems to have dropped off the face of the earth, possibly having been holding on to William Hague's shoe heels at the time.
It really is a one man band right now.
Andy Carpark
April 9th, 2010 11:04am Report this commentMr Barnett, Quite so. It made me choke on my mid-morning malt. These young whippersnappers would not know a split infinitive from a split pea, nor a dangling participle from a dead dingo's donger. Thank God General Dave is bringing back national service. He can bring back the birch too while he's about it. They should be horse-whipped, the lot of 'em.
DavidDP
April 9th, 2010 11:16am Report this commentDavis is the most competent interviewer on Today; pretty much the only one to know anything about economics and what he is talking about. Typical that the BBC give him Cameron. To his credit that he did well.
Chuck Unsworth
April 9th, 2010 11:27am Report this commentPerhaps it's just as well that Cameron did not mention that other favoured journal (well, in my local barber's, anyway) The Sport.
Reminds me, I need a trim.
But I do find the constant interruptions very wearing. Does the BBC not want us to hear the answers? Perish the thought, eh?
TrevorsDen
April 9th, 2010 1:12pm Report this commentMr Hoskin not sure you should apologise to Mr Barnett.
'Blogs' are not sub edited and they are not works of literature, they are works of thought. And in this case the work of the moment in what I presume is a busy day.
Not like me to defend hacks, but before comments-makers complain thy had better put their own house in order.
Meantime 'Dizzy' ...
http://dizzythinks.net/2010/04/how-labour-are-exploiting-ignorance-of.html#idc-container
... points out all the hard and endless work the Tories have been doing over the years trying to extract information out of this government.
The loony-tunes on here are always complaining about 'why don't the tories ... etc' --- well they have been, its just those MSM hacks again ignoring it.
alexsandr
April 9th, 2010 1:17pm Report this commentCarolyn Quinn is by far the worst for interrupting. I change hannels when she does pm
Dorothy Wilson
April 9th, 2010 4:40pm Report this commentalexsandr: Sarah Montague cackles!
David Moorcraft
April 10th, 2010 11:10pm Report this commentalexsandr
April 9th,
"Carolyn Quinn is by far the worst for interrupting. I change channels when she does pm"
Oh , so do I , but because her 'Estuary English' /glottal stop pronunciation is so awful! Ms Quinn says "a:all, a:home, youdonthaveter, lissners , govment" and many more painful attacks on a lovely language.
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