The Nerve Of The Man
Last year, when Andrew Marr gave up his position as BBC Political Editor, the Corporation made the inexplicable decision to replace him with the then-ITN Political bod Nick Robinson. Since his debut, the combination of his vacuous chirpings, his faux-witty comments, and his lack of any gravitas whatsoever have seriously damaged my opinion of the BBC's political news reporting.
But this morning I sat stunned at the sheer gall of the man. In a witless little piece on Today which seemed to be wholly designed to get his defence in first before someone pointed out that a few months ago he'd dismissed the now apparently very real prospect of an election this year as 'tosh', he explained his reasons for having taken that view. During the course of this he explained how he'd not joined in with some "frankly gullible" people who had fallen for an obviously deliberately leaked hint that an election was being considered.
"Frankly gullible" is more than a little rich coming from the man who, back in his ITN days, led their coverage of the utterly spurious story deliberately placed by the government or the security services about a major threat at Heathrow which turned out to have about as much weight or value as his own political insight. ITN led with it/him as a major exclusive but no other outlet, print or broadcast, so much as nodded in its direction. We watched at the time, stunned at seeing so clear an example of a journalist utterly going along with a party line and never applying even the smallest degree of rigour.
"Frankly gullible"? Pots and kettles, Mr Robinson; pots and kettles.