It is difficult to work out when we started on this path. Certainly That Was The Week That Was shocked most of us – not just politicians – by the disrespectful way it treated our leaders. It was undoubtedly delicious but we felt a bit like 4 year olds shouting Bum!
And in truth respect for politicians was hardly ever the norm in English life
A little while ago I was shocked to find myself suddenly thinking: The BBC is a big part of the problem
Not because of the alleged metropolitan liberal middle class bias – though that is undoubtedly there. And not because anyone set out to cause this problem
I think it stems from 2 of the fundamental rules which apply to the BBC – the need for balance & the need not to be seen to be beholden to the government of the day, whichever party that is
So we end up with a BBC which thinks it is its job to hold government to account, and to be equally hard on all other parties & politicians. In effect to take on the role of Opposition - to all, from its own Millbank redoubt
This has combined with a modern fad for hard, tough, and especially, challenging interviews: Why is this lying bastard lying to me?
And the taste for irony. Even Yesterday in Parliament takes a mocking tone these days, & virtually the only parliamentary correspondent given prominence in the broadsheets is the sketch writer
So even if somebody thought they could cope with all the other problems that becoming a Westminster politician entails, the thought that part of the job is putting up suavely with John Humphries at 8.10 am & rounding off the evening with Jeremy Paxman is just too much
Under every stone lurks a politician - Aristophanes
