The day Mandelson walked out of an interview rather than answer a question about Gordon Brown

Regular readers will know that I've already posted a number of classic TV interviews in which top politicians do something unusual or amusing (or both) - and newer readers can catch up with some of them from the links below.

This latest specimen is a stunner for anyone still baffled, bemused or bewildered by the Brown-Mandelson duet.

It shows the noble Lord, when still a humble commoner during the last general election, walking out of an interview to avoid answering a question about Gordon Brown - only a few years before being elevated to a peerage, appointed (in all but name) as deputy prime minister to become the centre piece of Mr Brown's survival strategy.

Avoiding or refusing to answer a question may be routine practice for our politicians, but actually walking out on an interviewer is, to say the least, fairly extreme. And, for an even more dramatic example, keep watching this space over the next few days.


OTHER CLASSIC TV INTERVIEWS:

2 comments:

Unknown said...

We don't know what was said before the camera's were turned on. I suspect, given Mandelson's response, that the journalist had explicitly agreed not to ask any questions about GB.

Max Atkinson said...

Simon - a very generous interpretation, if I may say so!

The next clip in this series will show someone walking out on Robin Day, and I doubt whether he ever agreed with anyone in advance not to ask any questions about anything. With luck, I'll be posting it tomorrow.