Tag Archives: interview

Dominic Raab fails to convince he’s not a bully in TV interview

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Dominic Raab: look at those eyes, those hands, the set of his face. Could you believe a man like that could be a bully?

This is odd: Dominic Raab appeared on a TV show where he was asked about the bullying allegations against him – but ducked the questions by saying it was improper to discuss them while an inquiry was going on.

Even when talking more broadly about the issue, he was unconvincing.

Here’s Maximilien Robespierre’s appraisal of it:

The points are good; he never even said bullying is unacceptable.

Perhaps, having been appointed on the basis of loyalty to the leader rather than merit, he simply didn’t think he owed it to anybody working for him to have a respectful relationship with them?

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Tory crumbles under cross examination over Budget

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John Glen, Tory Chief Secretary to the Treasury, got badly mauled when he tried to dissemble about the Budget in an interview with Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC’s Newsnight.

He couldn’t explain why it was a “Budget for growth” when medium-term growth forecasts have been downgraded.

And on the effects of Brexit, challenged to admit that it has made the UK poorer, he could not provide an alternative explanation for what has happened since the country left the European Union.

He crumbled under scrutiny.

Watch this car crash interview and understand why Tory leadership has taken the UK nowhere.

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Keir Starmer comes unstuck over Corbyn, his five missions, and his 10 pledges

Is Labour leader Keir Starmer really up to the job?

At the moment, he’s coming across as a shifty liar who doesn’t stand for anything and simply wants power for its own sake.

His latest pose is to say he was never on good terms with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who he supported as a prospective future UK prime minister in two general elections.

A real friend of Mr Corbyn – Diane Abbott – has corrected the record on that for him:

We have video clips of Starmer saying Mr Corbyn would be a great prime minister. I know it’s not the same as saying he was a personal friend, but the support – at the time – was clear, and it makes Starmer’s current volte face all the more telling.

Starmer’s big announcement last week was his ‘Five Missions’ for the Labour Party to restore the UK’s floundering fortunes – but he struggled to put meat on their bones at interview. For example:

Worse than that was a nearly 15-minute interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in which the interviewer – was it that notorious Tory Nick Robinson? – tore him to shreds.

It is a long-ish listen but well worth the time, and I’ve put it on YouTube:

Perhaps the lack of substance is best clarified in the following tweet from Clare Hepworth, whose observations are always well worth noting:

Yeah, he was criticised on Today for using a lot of jargon in his ‘Five Missions’ documentation too. Can’t this guy make himself clear?

And if he can’t – or won’t… is this really the man we want leading the UK after the next election – even if we know Rishi Sunak can’t be allowed to stay?

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James Cleverly on Boris Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi – shifty, unrevealing and untrustworthy

James Cleverly: He was once described as “the Tories’ go-to eejit when they need someone to tweet absolute nonsense or defend the indefensible”.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly did the Sunday morning interview round on January 23, 2023 – meaning he had to field questions about whether Boris Johnson corruptly appointed Richard Sharp as BBC Chairman, and about Nadhim Zahawi’s taxes.

He didn’t have answers about either of them, and instead came across as shifty, unrevealing and untrustworthy.

His responses displayed many characteristics of what police (for example) might describe as untruthfulness, or at least deception.

In this video clip, I have tried to identify at least a few of the tell-tale signs:

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Boris Johnson’s fact-free outburst about Richard Sharp corruption allegations. Is he deceiving us?

This is hilarious – but not for any reason that Boris Johnson would like.

Confronted with the allegations that BBC Chairman Richard Sharp was corruptly appointed to the role – by Johnson – after he arranged an £800,000 loan for the then-prime minister, he responded as follows:

It’s amusing that he’s saying the BBC is disappearing up its own “fundament”, when you remember that he’s discussing somebody he appointed to that corporation.

But also: look at his eyes and listen to what he’s actually saying.

Instead of discussing the facts of the matter, Johnson instead gives what’s known as a “resume statement” or “convincing statement” about Richard Sharp. Apparently the BBC chairman is “a good and a wise man” but knows “absolutely nothing” about Johnson’s personal finances.

So, instead of answering the question, Johnson takes the opportunity to tell a story about Sharp’s character, to make us think someone like this would never be involved in any dodginess.

He’s on the news! He should be talking about what’s important – whether he corruptly installed Sharp at the BBC after the other man arranged a loan for him – and instead he’s avoiding the issue completely.

Secondly, look at his blink rate – the number of times he blinks while talking about Sharp. Normal blink rate is around 16 times per minute but Johnson blinks nine times in 10 seconds.

When we’re really interested in something, that blink rate slows down; we’re trying to take more information in. But when we’re stressed or anxious, which is usually what happens when we’re being deceptive, the blink rate goes up. Nine times in 10 seconds is a phenomenal rate.

Thirdly, ask yourself: did Johnson answer the question? If he did, did he answer the entire question? No, he didn’t.

He said nothing about what may or may not have happened. He said nothing about whether he welcomed the inquiry into it. He just gave Sharp a character reference and insulted the BBC.

Singly, these elements may not add up to much.

But together, they would indicate to those who know about such things that Johnson was trying to deceive the reporters – and the public.

Does Therese Coffey really know nothing – apart from how to take donor cash?

Therese Coffey: not the best person to ask for a crackdown on smoking?

Therese Coffey proved her worthlessness as deputy prime minister in an interview with Kay Burley of Sky News.

Asked if the government was abandoning its target for building affordable homes, she said she didn’t know anything about it.

Burley then reminded her that, as deputy PM, she should:

Meanwhile, the Guardian has claimed that Coffey, as Health Secretary, is ending plans for a campaign to crack down on smoking.

Could this be because she herself smokes and has accepted hospitality from the tobacco industry?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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Treasury Secretary Chris Philp gets hammered by Jo Coburn in nightmare interview

Play the Chris Philp interview drinking game!

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury was interviewed by Jo Coburn on the BBC’s Politics Live immediately after Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng gave his contentless speech to the Conservative Party Conference – and she wasn’t in a mood to deal with his waffle.

So get your favourite beverage ready – alcoholic or not – and whenever you hear Coburn making a snarky response to Philp’s ramblings, give it one or two fingers (whichever you think it deserves.

If you’re on something alcoholic and you aren’t three sheets to the wind by the end of the interview, you’re doing it wrong.

Philp had already been hammered by Martin Lewis on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. I supply a clip below:

If you’re still fit to do so, feel free to play the drinking game with this one, too – using Mr Lewis’s responses to Philp as the trigger for a finger or two.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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Radio ga-ga: Thick Lizzy tries to get busy but ends up going dizzy

Backwards: Liz Truss did a series of phone interviews – and from her answers it seems likely she didn’t even know how to hold the telephone properly.

Liz Truss has finally come out of hiding to do a series of radio interviews, in a bid to justify her decision to crash the UK economy last Friday.

It hasn’t gone well for her.

But it is comedy gold.

And the commentators have been having a lot of fun (which is great for places like This Site, because I can just point you to them, and the clips of Truss’s plane-crash level interview ineptitude that they have preserved for posterity.

Let’s ease you in gently:

Now let’s have the hard stuff:

Don’t you love how she refers to “a global phenomenelom”?

Particular credit should go to the BBC Radio Bristol presenter for cutting to shreds the words of a prime minister who didn’t understand any of what she was talking about.

Her time is up already.

Can some responsible Conservative MPs (if there are any) please set in motion the process to get rid of her?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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Jeremy Corbyn opens up about racism allegations against him

Early in this video interview, Jeremy Corbyn states that “to falsely accuse somebody of any kind of racism is a major dishonest and dishonourable thing to do.”

To This Writer, that is a welcome claim – but only if it is attached to an admission that, during his leadership, the Labour Party falsely accused many people of racism, and anti-Semitism in particular.

Let’s have a gander at the rest of the clip:

Okay – so there’s lots of other good material in there. The stuff about racism/anti-Semitism comes in around 27 minutes into the interview.

Mr Corbyn had already said that Labour Party officers had not kept him properly informed of developments within the organisation, so it seems strange to This Writer that he accepted their claims about party members being anti-Semitic without any apparent question at all.

… Even more so when we hear him referring to the Forde Report and the leaked report that prompted it, containing allegations about fellow MPs that he knew not to be true. If he was sure of that, about people he knew, then why was he so certain of the opposite about people he didn’t?

It’s the one subject on which he let us all down and, sadly, there’s no joy here for those of us who were so badly wronged with accusations that Mr Corbyn himself described as “dishonest and dishonourable”.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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Cynical Liz Truss defends helping the rich rather than the poor – but nobody’s fooled

If Liz Truss thinks she’s fooling anybody, she is heading for a nasty awakening!

In a BBC interview, she was asked if she was on the side of bankers or the rest of us – and avoided answering.

Everybody knows this means she is on the side of the bankers and the rich – and her approach shows us that she cannot be trusted.

Watch the clip:

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

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