BoJo Gets Grilled

[Thropplenoggin]

Eddie Mair is proving himself to be that rarest of things: a BBC journalist not afraid to ask difficult questions of those in positions of power. Then to ask the same question again, and again, until he either a) gets a response, or b) makes the interviewee look a fool for obfuscating.

As a non-London resident, I can't speak for his qualities as Major, but as a potential future PM, there is lots about his past behaviour in public office that is dodgy. A highly-intelligent 'buffoon' with the world's most laissez-faire hair style.

[Richard Tarleton]

The transactional analysis is fascinating - Boris tries continuously to disarm Eddie Mair by responding in child mode (child to parent or child to adult) but Eddie refuses to indulge him, remaining in adult-to-adult mode, utterly refusing to play Boris's game. I've long been an admirer of EM's quiet but deadly interviewing style.

Highly intelligent yes, but Boris fails to go beyond buffoon mode in his public utterances.

[Barbirollians]

All that fake tan EM wears is wasted on the radio .

[DracoM]

Quiet assassination! Smack on, Eddie!

[kernelbogey]

Highly intelligent yes, but Boris fails to go beyond buffoon mode in his public utterances.

But methinks his pig's bladder be filled with grapeshot.

[clive heath]

A 10 minute+ plug for a BBC programme, what a waste of potentially useful airtime. Eddie Mair is a BBC poodle, surprise, surprise.

[Mr Pee]

A 10 minute+ plug for a BBC programme, what a waste of potentially useful airtime. Eddie Mair is a BBC poodle, surprise, surprise.

Quite a lot of BBC news reports turn out to be little more than plugs for upcoming programmes.

[Richard Barrett]

what a waste of potentially useful airtime

Not at all. Johnson being asked in front of the cameras about making up quotes while a Times journalist, about lying to Michael Howard when Johnson was a shadow minister and Howard party leader, about Darius Guppy's phonecall about having a journalist beaten up, and about his transparent ambition to replace David Cameron, was all most edifying and no doubt will have brought home to many more people than previously what kind of a person this Johnson is, which, given that he is an elected official, is exactly the kind of thing that current affairs broadcasting should do, no?

[clive heath]

Well, yes, if you think that sort of interview is really helpful and that the people who voted for Boris had absolutely no idea he was that sort of person. I mean, lying to Michael Howard, gosh.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

well maybe in the context and cultures of News International and the Conservative Party BoJo was behaving appropriately ......

[Richard Barrett]

well maybe in the context and cultures of News International and the Conservative Party BoJo was behaving appropriately ......

Indeed.

[mercia]

making up quotes while a Times journalist

the interview left me none the wiser as to what or who he made up quotes about

something to do with Piers Gaveston ??? [is he editor of The Mirror ? ]

[aeolium]

the interview left me none the wiser as to what or who he made up quotes about

something to do with Piers Gaveston ??? [is he editor of The Mirror ? ]

I think it was a comment relating to the discovery of a long-lost palace of Edward II's on the banks of the Thames. Reporting on this for the Times, Johnson invented a quote from an Oxford don, Colin Lucas, to the effect that the king "had enjoyed a reign of dissolution with his catamite, Piers Gaveston" in the palace - the only problem being that the palace was built in 1325 while Gaveston had been executed in 1312.

Johnson is also apparently a member of the Piers Gaveston Society:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Gaveston_Society

[amateur51]

The transactional analysis is fascinating - Boris tries continuously to disarm Eddie Mair by responding in child mode (child to parent or child to adult) but Eddie refuses to indulge him, remaining in adult-to-adult mode, utterly refusing to play Boris's game. I've long been an admirer of EM's quiet but deadly interviewing style.

Highly intelligent yes, but Boris fails to go beyond buffoon mode in his public utterances.

I liked your TA approach very much, RT

After the August riots in London Johnson went to Clapham and was filmed listening to angry rersidents who wanted to know why the police had not been around to protect them. I think Boris had hoped to meet up with some 'can-do' residents with brooms & shovels who were 'doing their bit' to get their community back into shape. Instead Boris, who is after all in charge of policing in London (remember how he so decisively sacked Sir Ian Blair when he'd just been elected Mayor? ) tried to get a word in but these people were angry and while the cameras were still running he turned his back on them in frustration and walked away from them. The StuntMeister had been thwarted and clearly didn't like it.

I thought that Mair's interview revealed this side of Boris once again and as such performed a valuable perfect service

[kernelbogey]

Not at all. Johnson being asked in front of the cameras about making up quotes while a Times journalist, about lying to Michael Howard when Johnson was a shadow minister and Howard party leader, about Darius Guppy's phonecall about having a journalist beaten up, and about his transparent ambition to replace David Cameron, was all most edifying and no doubt will have brought home to many more people than previously what kind of a person this Johnson is, which, given that he is an elected official, is exactly the kind of thing that current affairs broadcasting should do, no?

Yes, absolutely spot on.

all most edifying

Johnson has been described as a self-seeking narcissist, and ambitious to a degree that he papers over with the buffoonery. I imagine that tonight's documentary will reveal some of this. Also, I read, his Dad's ambitions for him (how significant is that in TA terms? ).

Do the folks who've challenged or dismissed Eddie Mair's interview want a PM who has failed to deny on national tv that he has lied, made up 'facts' as a journalist, and potentially connived at violence? And are these not, to them, matters of public interest that a national broadcaster should investigate and challenge? Do they not value an interviewer demonstrating unequivocally the man's refusal to give a straight answer to a straight question?