A prime minister who openly refused to answer an interviewer’s questions

If you saw the recently posted clips of Clement Attlee and Edward Heath, you might enjoy another gem from my collection of memorable TV interviews from the past.

This time, it’s sunny Jim Callaghan in full combat mode, repeatedly refusing to answer questions about Roy Jenkins.

Although he may have succeeded in putting Robin Day in his place, whether or not it did the then prime minister's reputation any good is quite another matter.

However, compared with the way Gordon Brown behaves in interviews (see yesterday’s post), there’s something vaguely refreshing to see a politician being as open as this about his unwillingness to answer the questions put to him:

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm wondering whether it would be possible to meaningfully research and measure a politician's willingness to engage in real debate during interviews. A vocabulary count perhaps?