OPENING greetings have changed in current affairs broadcasting. Where once there was David Frost’s chummy “Hello, good evening and welcome” there is now Sophy Ridge's thoroughly modern “Happy Sunday”.
One thing that has stayed the same is the job of looking back on the previous week, forward to the next, and answering some of the questions that have popped up along the way.
Yesterday these questions included: how big is Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp cache, as passed to the journalist Isabel Oakeshott and revealed in the Daily Telegraph? What exactly is an independence readiness thermometer? And last but not least, is Boris Johnson a man of integrity?
Sky's @SophyRidgeSky asked Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Ashworth if they will do a check on the WhatsApp messages they have exchanged with the former health secretary#Ridge
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday & The Take (@RidgeOnSunday) March 5, 2023
Latest here👉 https://t.co/WXVrNOasaQ pic.twitter.com/KH47r2JkIM
Appearing on Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, managed to tie together the Hancock messages, the row over Labour’s job offer to Sue Gray, and the Commons privileges committee inquiry into Boris Johnson.
Read more: Forbes appeals for change
Is Boris Johnson a man of integrity, Ridge asked.
“Yes, 100 per cent,” said Mr Heaton-Harris. “I do not believe for one second Boris knowingly misled parliament.”
The “knowingly” part of that sentence is of course crucial. Should the cross-party committee decide otherwise, and the Commons agrees, the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip could be suspended and a by-election held.
“I will make sure I protect… everyone’s rights”
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 5, 2023
SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan says she would not roll back rights for trans people and explains why she voted against reforms to make it easier for people to change their legal sexhttps://t.co/VykC153xbg #BBCLauraK pic.twitter.com/etDdQPSU4B
Allies of Mr Johnson spent the weekend trying to use Sue Gray’s appointment as Labour chief of staff as a way of questioning her earlier report into “Partygate”.
Mr Heaton-Harris called on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to publish any exchanges he might have had with Ms Gray during this time.
It is not known if any such messages exist because Labour has so far refused to specify when it approached Ms Gray about a job.
Kuenssberg asked Jonathan Ashworth, shadow work and pensions secretary, when conversations between Ms Gray and Sir Keir began.
Read more: Election would be gold standard
Mr Ashworth would only say that the Labour leader had been looking for a chief of staff for “several weeks”. He did not know whether Ms Gray had sought permission from the appointments watchdog to be in contact, as the rules require.
After the programme aired, the BBC reported that Ms Gray would speak to the appointments watchdog on Monday. With Mr Johnson due to give evidence before the privileges committee in a couple of weeks, Labour does not want the Gray row to distract from its attacks on the ex-Prime Minister, which it clearly was doing.
The Hancock WhatsApps were among the subjects discussed by Kuenssberg’s panel. Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator, is one of a few journalists who has read all the messages.
“It’s the biggest document dump ever made available to journalists or historians in my lifetime,” he said. "The whole file is four times the size of War and Peace.”
So to the final of the three questions posed: what is the difference between an “independence readiness thermometer” and an “independence readiness index”?
All was explained, or perhaps not, in Kuenssberg’s interview with Ash Regan MSP, one of the three candidates to be SNP leader and First Minister.
Asked how she would achieve independence, Ms Regan said she would set up a convention made up of all indy supporters. There would also be an “independence commission”.
“Your viewers might not have heard of that before,” she told Kuenssberg. “The idea is that will be a body that will be tasked with planning for independence and creating the infrastructure to get Scotland ready for independence.”
Read more: Indy workshops promised
Ms Regan faced ridicule last week when she suggested there could be a “readiness thermometer”, or other such installation, placed in a public place so people could see how close Scotland was to becoming independent. Kuenssberg, with a chuckle, asked how it would work.
“We build confidence in the public by explaining to them what we’re doing”
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) March 5, 2023
SNP leadership contender Ash Regan gives details of her suggestion for a physical independence “readiness thermometer” somewhere in Scotlandhttps://t.co/VykC153xbg #BBCLauraK pic.twitter.com/1PA3pQDtBe
Referring to the previously mentioned independence commission: Ms Regan said: “The idea is we build confidence in the public by explaining to them what we are doing to get Scotland ready. This is actual infrastructure so this would be things like planning for the currency and getting all that stuff arranged.
“What we want to do is have some sort of representation, or an index is perhaps a better way of expressing it, so that the public and the media and everyone interested can see the progress we’re making towards setting up that infrastructure.”
So now you know.
SNP leadership debate dates for the diary: STV, Tuesday, 7 March; Sky News, Monday, 13 March; BBC Debate Night, Tuesday, March 14.
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