Nick Robinson accuses the Chancellor of being dishonest in this very revealing 8 minute interview. He urges the Chancellor to rule out tax rises for lower earners, and he fails to do so. I imagine Tory strategists will be studying his words very carefully indeed. Well worth a watch.
Hattip: Daily Referendum
30 comments:
Missed opportunity there. He is near an external window, a decent sniper could have taken the prat out.
He still did not give him a bad time. i have yet to see the BBC carry out an interview with Labour in the style they used to when the Tories were in power. But when you are interviewing your own it must be difficult
Is Nick Robinson feeling OK? Has he forgotten that this is a Labour politician?
"Don't Take Me Alive", appropriately enough from 1976's The Royal Scam. It resonates on all sorts of levels for me.
Iain,
I commented on Nick's blog after this interview........ I think there have been many opportunities when Nick could have pushed the government both fairly and politely in the past, but he has often let them off.
I was pleased to see Nick pushing a bit for a change.
I can only conclude, that post Damien McBride, the world has changed.
Once the Conservatives get into government, I hope that Nick Robinson and others give them hell. It will keep the Tories honest and make them focus on the job in hand - to the benefit of all.
The media needs to strike a new and constructive relationship with the incoming government.
The Tories, equally should invite the media to challenge them. They should not expect to spoon feed and manage the media like lap dogs.
The whole country needs to grow up a little (well a lot).
God, the public should be made to watch this, Darling is flailing in the wind. Useless. I'm amazed Robinson did something half decent. When a chancellor has to spin his budget like this, its over. Robinson basically called him a liar. Nailed on the low earners, that tax is going up high, when they get the chance.
"The reason we are in the worst state since the war is because of Brown's pudence?" Ouch.
I really dont see how they get out of this without devestation.
And this spinning of Labour basically admitting the 50% tax is temporary, just proves it was simply to try and trap cameron, it didnt work, Cameron did not fall for the bait and now they are spinning their backsides off trying to backtrack. They have given Cameron a get out clause on the 50% high tax. Labour could'nt organize an orgy in a whorehouse let alone a political trap.
Look, if even Nick Robinson is against you, you're doomed.
and now this
Oh Brown really is taking the mickey now, doing this when the public is racked off with expenses. Infuriating.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1172974/Good-times-ARE-just-round-corner-Budget-doubles-ministers-wine-dine-party.html
The budget for ministers’ parties has been quietly increased by 50 per cent - and almost £140,000 spent on an exclusive wine cellar.
In the week when the Chancellor promised a Whitehall efficiency drive, official figures suggest Government hospitality is unaffected by the recession.
The unit set up to organise wining and dining for ministers and senior civil servants has had its budget increased by 52 per cent from £525,000 to £800,000 for this financial year.
The Government Hospitality Unit, based in the Foreign Office, delivers ‘official hospitality for all government ministers and Permanent Secretary-level officials’.
Last year it delivered 208 functions at an average cost of £2,227 per event. Since 1997, it has cost £7.1 million to run.
Alan Brazil on TalkSport did a much better job.
Is it just me or has Labour let the Tories off the hook regarding the 50p tax increase? Today Labour have been spinning madly saying that the 50p rate is temporary. Therefore Labour will impose in the 50p tax and they plan to remove it after the election.
How does that stack up against Brown's intention of forcing the Tories to say whether they are for or against the 50p rate? All the Tories have to say is that they agree with the plans for the reduction in taxes after the election.
Nice to see the toad do his job for once.
Darling hasn't got a jugular. He is an automaton controlled by radio telemetry from No 10. Ditto Nick Robinson.
As head BBC Labour propagandist, Nick is so far up Gordon's arse that his only chance to gasp for breath is when Gordon does that jaw-dropping thing.
But the BBC must occasionally pretend to be impartial, which is why this ingenious piece of double-bluff counter-propaganda has come about. The techies in the BrownBunker watching their screens must have been congratulating each other on the success of their programming.
Of course the bit you don't see is after the interview, when Robinson's head explodes in a shower of sparks under the strain of being forced to say things so far from what he actually believes.
When Nick Robinson turns, one might as well call the stonemasons fro Labour.
It will be interesting to see the next polls.
Labour below 20%??
Not that it matters any more, the damage has been done.
They have destroyed this country. They have destroyed it culturally, socially, and as their last act they have destroyed it financially.
W.W.
I'm not sure the bloke's too well - he looks shot to pieces to me.
Heard a good joke on BBC Radio this morning
Q What do you say to someone who
cant run the economy
A Hello Darling
Might be a bit boom boom ish but this coupled with Nick the Pricks interview might just indicate that the techtonic plates, Jim Callaghan used to talk about, are starting to shift..
About bloody time too.....
Just watch him squirm. Well done Nick.
As Jeremy Paxman has said-"Why is this lying bastard lying to me?"
Can't get access to the video, however pleased to hear Robinson might be doing his job properly, whens he leaving the BBC then? I wonder what the interview would have been like, if this 45M deficit in the budget is confirmed.
Apologies the fiscal hole is reputed to be 45Billion, not 45Million as I said.
The Nick Robinson / Darling interview seems to represent a turning point for the BBC. NR was uncharacteristically caustic towards the 'government'.
Could it be that the Beeb has a Conservative brief, now?
Pretty awful. the first part seemed to be the result of a bet to get Darling to use the word "prudent". Robinson lost. The last bit they were at cross-purposes, Robinson asking about lowering the 50% threshhold and Darling thinking he meant lowering the rate.
Sorry Iain, I know you don't like profanity but **** **!
Yes Robinson could have pushed harder but even without that it was a car wreck in slow motion for Darling.
The comments on the evasiveness over the new tax band is pretty telling, but beyond that he was given at least two opportunities to agree with the premise 'Gordon Brown was a prudent Chancellor' neither of which he took. More than that he couldn't even come up with a clever political spin on the matter...he was evasive to the point he must have known that everyone, not just the anoraks like myself must have been able to spot the evasion.
What I took from the interview was that, by Labour's debased standards, Alistair Darling is (shock horror) a decent man, but a creature of our current political class. If it said anything to me, it said, 'Gordon...I'm loyal to the cause, and there are some bullets I will take for you...but not every bullet'.
Excluding any television appearance by Jacqui Smith that was one of the best home goals I've seen by a cabinet minister for some time.
He might want to borrow one of her stab (and presumably Nokia) -proof vests for the next cabinet meeting.
"Is it just me or has Labour let the Tories off the hook regarding the 50p tax increase?"
It's not just you...
Why is it that Darling and, for that matter, seem to be incoherent most of the time. They both interview so badly. Darling today seemed like a gibbering monkey.
Maybe that is how they are, anyway.
Listen to Alan Brazil interviewing Darling. Good fun:
http://www3.talksport.net/mediaplayer/media_player.asp?id=106463&c=&t=&rssPodcast=&podcastid=&mediaType=1
Toughest I've seen him be in a long long time...
Robinson effectively calling Darling a liar was almost as good as Paxman guffawing in disbelief at Yvette Cooper on Newsnight on Wednesday.
So what will Peston say now?
eddie mair on the pm programme is usually tough on evasive politicians
David Starkey said it all on Question Time last night.
I feel sorry for Darling. He clearly has enough nous to understand the real problems, but is in the impossible position of having to defend the incompetence of Brown, both as Chancellor and as Prime Minister. Yes, journos can take him to the cleaners, but what's the point?
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