Fury among Tories as BBC’s Evan Davies lets the PM off lightly
Friday, January 23: Where is John Humphrys? That was the question being asked by furious Tories after the PM was given a pat-a-cake interview on the morning that Britain officially slipped into recession by Labour's favourite BBC radio luvvie, Evan Davis of the Today programme.
Former BBC economics editor Davis has been credited by the Guardian with bringing a "fun, charming, exuberant side" to Today but his performance this morning had senior Tories at Conservative Central Office spluttering on their croissants.
At one point, Davis told Brown: "I don't want to blame you for these problems. I was reporting on you for the years when you were Chancellor and didn't see it coming. I am not going to blame you..."
That is not what Tories - and some Labour MPs - are saying. They do blame Brown for scrapping the tougher regulatory regime that he inherited from Kenneth Clarke and replacing it with 'light touch regulation' on the City, that even Brown now lists as one of the causes of the financial crisis.
Back in 2007, in his Mansion House speech to the City, Brown called for "a risk-based regulatory approach" and said he wanted to encourage "risk-takers" - that was after the US imposed tougher regulations in the wake of the Enron scandal. Why didn't Davis remind Brown of that?
Instead, there was more sycophancy. Davis told the PM: "A lot of people credited you with the recovery plan - I think that needs to be recognised - around the world..."
Perhaps Davis was trying to tickle Brown into submission with a feather, but if Humphrys had not been on a day off, it is an open question whether Brown would have gone on the Today programme at all. Or the Toady programme, as Tory MPs are now calling it.
THE MOLE: TODAY PROGRAMME
LAST UPDATED 9:12 AM, JANUARY 23, 2009
|  |
 |
ADVERTISEMENT
Comments
Hide comments
The reported statements made by Davis are, if accurate, outrageous in that they do not in any way stand as IMPARTIAL which is what I understood the BBC Charter demands. Get that toe rag in front of a Commons enquiry into his disgraceful bias.
Posted by roger CARTER at 10:54am on January 23, 2009
Having just heard the PM trying to talk over and talk down Evan Davies on Today one has to despair. What was the point of going on if he intended to repeat only the same old mantras? The man is in denial and we seriously question his state of mind and capacity to tackle this crisis. Is Minder Mandy still grovelling in Mumbai trying to smooth over the Foreign Secretary's indiscretions? Are the wheels coming off in every part of government?
Posted by THE ESSEX BOYS at 11:08am on January 23, 2009
We should just add that we have a Treasury contact from the Brown Years and he puts much of the current difficulties down to the traits that GB displayed on the radio this morning - an unwillingness to listen to alternative opinions, an inability to admit errors, even the tiniest ones, and a complete lack of charm in getting the best from a team. Mr Brown delights in getting his own name into the same sentence as Barack Obama but does he, or anyone, seriously suggest that the new President would have conducted an important interview on a national flagship program in this crass, ignorant manner? Time to look in the mirror Prime Minister and, better still, listen to a tape of your effort at 8.10am today! DO LISTEN & LEARN - ALTHOUGH WE FEAR YOU HAVE PASSED THE POINT OF NO RETURN.
Posted by THE ESSEX BOYS at 11:11am on January 23, 2009
It is now pretty well accepted that any of Brown's rubbish team will get onto BBC radio or TV whenever they want and get a soft ride from the spineless bunch of presenters who ought to be flailing them verbally within a millimetre of their miserable lives. The BBC is to left leaning and has long since lost its independent and objective reporting mantle.
Posted by Ian OLIVE at 12:51pm on January 23, 2009
Add comment
You must be signed into your user account to add a comment.