Questions?
A Labour Party memo emerges suggesting that the party DID intend to take questions at its local elections launch today. They didn't - in case you haven't heard. "Who cares?" you may scream. And you would have a point. "Isn't this the sort of dull Westminster village process story that switches people off politics?" you may ask.
Maybe. And yet and yet…it does tell you something when a party can't agree about how to run an election launch and briefs against each other about whose fault it is. Now that is a story that is hard to ignore.
I'm 
Comments
At least Mr Blair allowed you to ask him a question for the 6 O'Clock News. Shame he didn't answer it.
I'd love to know who wanted to allow questions who didn't. (Us provincial types can't easily get hold of the E.S.) Any information on that would be gratefully recieved. Free press, democracy, values, etc etc...
"a story that is hard to ignore"
Damn right.
This is how my kids behave when they're supposed to be tidying their rooms. Endless bickering; mutual blame; nothing actually gets done. I usually end up shouting "Never mind that...just get ON WITH IT".
Given that these imbeciles are supposed to be running the country, rather than shifting some dirty socks, please do keep shouting at them....
A true Soap Opera this is turning out to be...TB's words may now be regretted!
Its nastier then EastEnders, has more plot than Coronation Street, and is watched by more viewers than Hollyoaks! 60 Million to be precise.
Just one thing Tony and Gordon don't seem to realise - is how fed up with both of them the public is becoming!
Nick,
The real question you media guys should be asking is does this country really want Gordon Brown to be Prime Minister? You don't get a true reflection in a poll of 1000 people there are 60million of us!
I don't want him or Phoney! All he has done is waste money without reform, destroyed private pension schemes and pouted. The stability in the economy is due to the independent decision of the BOE to set interest rates, he has nothing to do with it any more. Brown is a tinker man like Ranieri who was a runner-up as well.
Would you please start asking awkward questions like does Gordon think we want him as PM? I believe that answer if we were asked would be NO and then maybe we will get a quality candidate put forward who has worked for a living outside the world of politics!
Stop sitting on the fence Nick you guys are the only chance for this country to get a PM with some ability!
Well Nick, they say that they did 'intend' to take questions, but....
I guess you've got them on the run, then. I must say that the great chase is almost as entertaining as watching foxhunting (maybe that's not 'quite' how I should put it) with all the thrills and adrenaline levels of a blood sport. It'll certainly liven up the local polls.
Others may have better things to do with their day, of course, but for me it's certainly much more exhilarating than watching East Enders...
The lack of balance between scrutiny and politeness that much of the media suffers from has switched me off the media, as much as similar behaviour has switched me off from politics and society. In the same way you’d encourage a disturbed child, perhaps, you might like to back off from poking them with a stick. People make mistakes, and constant slapping doesn't help.
For all peoples power, status, and wealth, they’re as human as anyone. People make mistakes, lose the plot, and do things they might not prefer to do. As surely as with a delinquent on a housing estat or a dictator running a brutal regime, a more positive and encouraging engagement from the media might help develop a more rounded and constructive public policy conversation.
In creating a society based on winners and losers, all we do is create losers in the long-term. Setting a better lead is everyone’s responsibility. Personally, I believe, it’s more important than terrorism or global warming. Encouraging mature leadership and communication skills in everyone is the key issue for national security, the economy, and society.
Nick, I had to laugh when you asked Tony today about when he intended to step down. He spent all of his trip in Australia navel-gazing and presumably asking himself questions like "Why am I here?" and "What the hell am I doing?". Then he returns home and acts like nothing has happened. With all this talk of "Will he, won't he?", is he simply winding Gordon up?
i watch how uk and europe are going . i read between the lines and what is said sometimes can mean the opposite. i am the silent person who can't do anything. people in general waffle on as long as it don't effect them it. it don't exsist. my father one told me never leave your money in someone elses pocket - after a while they think it's theirs.before you place some one in a powerfull position ask yourself would you trust them with your bank account! and it's very easy to talk without having to contribute to the actions. this i find is an ongoing battle look at marbelle.give uk 20 years and all the people on the free hand out will be telling everyone else to get a job and earn it.oh the circle of politics-manipulation of man
i watch how uk and europe are going . i read between the lines and what is said sometimes can mean the opposite. i am the silent person who can't do anything. people in general waffle on as long as it don't effect them it. it don't exsist. my father one told me never leave your money in someone elses pocket - after a while they think it's theirs.before you place some one in a powerfull position ask yourself would you trust them with your bank account! and it's very easy to talk without having to contribute to the actions. this i find is an ongoing battle look at marbelle.give uk 20 years and all the people on the free hand out will be telling everyone else to get a job and earn it.oh the circle of politics-manipulation of man
I don't think the story is hard to ignore at all. It is not very interesting. People only know that briefing and counter-briefing is going on if you tell them.
Nick, do you believe that the media is partly to blame for this banning of questions? I'm not trying to support or justify Labour's decision but I often get the feeling that the media in general are obsessed with sensationalist stories and often focus on petty issues that people just don't care about. As a result, when it comes to subjects we need to know more about you're banned from asking questions! I'd be interested on your views about this spin and counter-spin!
Your news department really has got it wrong on the importance of the Brown/Blair personality thing. I watched the six pm news last night as I always do. Your coverage of the Labour Party's local government campaign launch was very disappointing. It was all about Blair and Brown and how reporters had not been allowsed to ask questions. What matters to me as a voter is what they are offering me and want from me. I really don't care who is the front-man, it is the policies I am going to vote on, if I vote. Often I like Nick Robinson's coverage but if he continues as he did last night I shall be looking for a more serious news bulletin to watch each night.
Why don`t they realise how grotesque the whole charade has become and how insulting to our intelligence is the pretence that all is peace and harmony between them
Their appearances together are more panto that politics.
Nick, it says it all really, a list of what you can't ask and then when they realise that everything goes on your page, they issue a memo trying to wriggle out of it- doesn't remind me of this govt at all!
Nick - SURELY they've realised that you lot will NEVER stop asking until you get an answer, and all the huffing and puffing and protestations of 'Lets move on' or 'Thats not what we want to talk about' won't change that..
This is a longer-running saga than Mike Baldwin's 'death' and it looks like thats going to happen first...
To be honest, I don't care if they had agreed to answer questions or not.
Nor does the continued will-they won't-they speculation light my fire.
It was interesting to watch the report, pretty much all that was mentioned was the debate over questions. What were the details that actually came out at the local election launch?
I don't remember the report containing any real information.
We all know Brown hopes to take over from Blair, that's old news.
I would argue the constants 'debate' over when it will happen is not of as much interest to the man in the street as some people may imagine, we all know it's going to happen sooner or later.
I'm afraid that your obsession with Mr Blair's departure date and the Blair / Brown soap opera is preventing you from asking any useful or interesting questions. Still you're not alone, very few political commentators seem interested in politics these days......
I am new to this blog Nick, but I can't help but feel this is small beer compared to the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill currently cruising through Parliament almost unopposed. Gordon and Tony will soon be history, but this pernicious legislation could last forever in human terms, so lets have a bit more about it and it's direct threat to our liberties and the soveriegnty of the people through their parliamentary representatives.
I noticed that no ice-cream was on offer.
I have suffered a curious dream (nightmare?) which seems to be a vision of the TB legacy.
It consists of a Keystone Cops chase:
an axe wielding GB pursuing TB dressed in full fig as a washerwoman.
A bit reminicent of Toad of Toad Hall fleeing the chaos.
Don't tell me its true!!
Typical of the media, when they did not get their way, turning the launch of the local election campaign into the usual "When are you going to resign Tony" they went into a huff.
I think you have misjudged the Prime Minster, if you think you can hound him out of office. He is made of strong stuff, the man who took this country to war knowing the stick he was going to get from his opponents and the media won't allow himself to be pushed.
Brown is not in the same league, but that is the point isn’t it, that is why the Tory Media want to get rid of Tony and replace him with Gordon.
Can't these people learn that controlling the media is about as productive as pushing snowballs uphill?
Nick,do you think its still possible that Tony Blair might move Gordon Brown in a reshufffle,and maybe thats why Blair is taking so long to decide the reshuffle?Blair could be thinking of appointing Brown as the new 'social exclusion minister' that he talked about back in february.is that a possibility?
PS congratulations on making it on to the Rory Bremner show!
Another question..is it likely there could be some kind of leadership challenge to the PM this year if Labour does really badly in the council elections,or is that more likely to happen next year?
Nick, I am not surprised TB would not hold a question or answer session.A few Days ago the PM along with the 91Èȱ¬ Secretary tried in vain to tell us about the new unit based on FBI lines that the Police Force now have, what questions did we get from the political hacks? they wanted to know about rifts between TB and GB. When are you political journalist going to realise that the general public do not give a Monkey's about who argues with who. They are more concerened about Pensions, the NHS, Law and Order I am still waiting to hear more about this new unit thanks to journalist who are more bothered about Westminster gossip than anything else. Fiona Notts
Im not sure that yesterday could have gone much worse for Labour. At the end of the day the media won by portraying 'New' Labour as a divided party whose leaders cant agree on anything. Should be quite interesting to watch the fallout from this PR disaster.
To be honest, Nick, I am sick to the back teeth of the only question our PM and Chancellor ever get asked being about this damned succession. The piece on the 6 O'Clock News was almost comical - a great play was made of the fact that no questions were allowed, and then when Blair did talk to you the question you asked was "When are you going to step down?" Couple that with the Californian body language 'expert' the Beeb had on News 24 - a *body language* expert, for heaven's sake - and I think I have a right to ask what I'm paying my licence fee for. If the party could have any confidence that you'd ask a question about, say, the need for reform of the council tax, or local government reorganisation, maybe they'd allow questions. But if all it's going to be is this Westminster village obsession, what's the point?
It's not just Labour, either - I remember when the Tories' Howard Flight story broke, and there was a policy press conference the next day where no one wanted to ask a question on policy. Don't the public deserve better? This succession will happen when it happens - then voters can decide if they want the new guy in No 10.
Yeah, power to the people!
Media manipulation is what this Government does best, and if this 'leadership spat' soap opera isn't a successful card trick to keep your eyes glued on inconsequential matters, then I don't know what it is.
Meanwhile, the real story of Blair's final term is that his Government are passing enabling laws right under journalists' noses, and hardly any of you are squeaking about it.
Examples include:
the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (soon to be act) will allow ministers to change laws without recourse to parliament, requests for several important constituional laws to remain out of the remit of this law having been explicitly rejected;
compulsory ID cards in conjunction with a national database to track and monitor our activities;
we are about to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded by a new national surveillance system that will hold the records for at least two years;
designated areas where people need to get police permission to protest, (originally introduced to remove Brian Haw, of course, although he is still there due to bad drafting of the law) used in such a sinister fashion to prosecute the young woman who read out the names of war dead at the Cenotaph; and
the stealthy creation of a police DNA database, including the DNA of innocent adults and children.
Why aren't journalists shouting about this dreadful movement towards authoritarianism? Surely you're not all in the same Westminster Club?
Oh I dunno, given the lack of coverage of the legislative and regulatory reform bill attempting to abolish parliament, and the amount of smoke coverage about Blair, Brown and whether they like each other today, I'd say someone is controlling the media fairly effectively.
Is our very own enabling act just not worthy of comment?
I don't know why everyone thinks Gordon Brown will be the next PM. Since devolution I would never vote for anyone representing a Scottish or Welsh constituency. It simply makes no sense to have a PM who can legislate in areas that do not affect his own constituents. I am a Scot living in England for the past ten years and I think that devolution is most unfair on England.
Can't blame them for not taking questions, it would just have been one question, "When are you stepping down, Prime Minister?" We have all heard that a hundred times now, and we are sick of it.
The Labour party, Tony in charge, were voted in only a year ago, the press just think it is a fine game to keep going on and on about the leadership question, when the question has already been answered. He'll go when he is ready.
Hi Nick
If they are not going to answer the questions then why cover the story at all? Switch off the cameras Nick and walk away. They need you to peddle their propaganda. We need to the media to wake up. Forget bird flu; forget the Brown-Blair soap opera. There is a serious threat to our democracy in the form of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (coupled with ID cards and House of Lords reform.) This country NEEDS the media's questions more than ever. Come on Nick: it time to take sides.
I'm starting to get really fed up with the media's obsession with this so-called soap opera that has been mostly created and fuelled by the media. To be honest I don't blame them for not taking questions. Were any of you going to ask about the local elections? I strongly suspect the answer would be no. There would have been half an hour of how much do Blair and Brown hate each other. The media get enough opportunity to inflame that issue yet on most coverage there is very little discussion on the issues that matter to the public.
Stop living life through the Westminster village and report on the issues that matter to the rest of us. I'm as geeky as the next political junkie and love the intrigue but only up to a point. I'm completely turned off by political hacks' obsession with the relationship between Blair and Brown - I suspect most of the public turned off from this sort of coverage long ago.
I don't actually think most people want Gorden Brown as PM. He is just being foisted upon us as part of a long term arrangment.
But with general problems faced by the government and the openly bad feeling between TB and GB is it possible that TB actually wants to time his departure so he leaves GB with a sinking ship.
Then he will say his legacy was actualy that all was well while he was PM but it fell apart once Gorden took over.
I don't think TB will care a hoot about what happens after he is gone and making a fortune from his book and after dinner speaking
Mr Robinson will only be satified when he and the rest of the gutter press force Tony Blair out. They will then start on his successor as their thirst for intrigue scandal and conspiracy is unquenchable. However Tony Blair has proved he is made of sterner stuff and I believe (and hope) the Ex Tory Mr Robinson will never have his scalp.
Nick - what's going on here? This is the party that stormed the 1997 election by analysing every tremor in the electoral waters. In the lead up to the election day - the political themes, rhetoric and campaigns were changed according to the countless research groups that met every day - not everyone's idea of how a political party should achieve power - but effective enough in an environment where the party that gets in is the party that applies the blueprint that voters will vote for - as opposed to standing for their own priniciples.
Almost every action taken right now - a percentage thaty has grown steadily since the start of the Iraq war - seems to totally ignore this strategy - as if what the voters think is now a significant inconvenience. How come the party so intent on being "in-touch" is so "out of touch" to the point of resentment of public views? Is this simply a political cycle that every party corrupted by unopposed electoral success over a significant period of time must go through - or this individual stupidity on a grand scale?
Nick
I am sure you are enjoying asking repetitive questions of Tony Blair regarding his retirement.
Unfortunately it has become very tiresome for those of us who pay our licence fee to see objective reporting of real news.
When Blair resigns then please feel free to report it. Until then those of us in the real world don't actually care, and are being forced to look elsewhere than the 91Èȱ¬ for information on political events that will actually impact on our day to day lives.
I appreciate that it is always a difficult balance between an attempt to report objectively and allowing one's personal bias to creep in. Unfortunately I'm afraid that you have crossed the line and appear to be pursuing your own agenda rather than reporting the facts.
Please get back to what the government is doing in crucial areas such as education, health, law and order, and defence. These issues impact on all of our lives every day. Pointless speculation on the departure date for Blair does not.
When I want fiction I will watch Coronation Street. I expect rather more of you and your team.
Could do better...
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Observing Gordon Brown over the past few years he seems like a man who gets others to do his dirty work for him particularly in his on-going battle with Blair. On several ocassions he has appeared to go into hiding and to my eyes this looks like the work of a political coward. You see him at close hand. So, in your opinion does Brown have the balls to take the really critical decisions that sometimes confront a PM such as going to war?
I've been following a story today on another news outlet regarding the possiblity that Alan Milburn may be run against Gordon Brown as Tony Blair's successor when all of this nonsense ends and he does decide to leave.
However, isn't it true that Alan Milburn has twice decided to leave the Cabinet? If so, why is he being touted as an alternative and isn't there a certain degree of arrogance in putting someonee forward to lead the country having already left the front-line of public service twice? I certainly think there is.
I'd just like to applaud Charles E. Jardwidge, Rob and David Bridger's comments above (nos 5, 13 and 14).
Spot on. Nick Robinson winds me up far more than any politician. The way he wrote the following (above) says it all:
"Maybe. And yet and yet…" Gah!!