The Andrew Neil Interviews (BBC1)***
HE had nuked Nicola, kebabbed Corbyn, and turned Boris Johnson chicken. How would Jo Swinson, the not so old girl of Douglas Academy in Milngavie, fare against Andrew Neil, the Hannibal Lecter of the half hour TV interview?
Neil rather had his thunder stolen when, shortly before he came on, Matt from The One Show, television’s equivalent of the big slipper for sheer random barminess, announced he was leaving after nine years. No prizes for guessing which one, Matt’s cheerio or the Swinson interview, will get more column inches today.
Neil began on a cheeky note. “Can we agree to conduct this interview on the basis you will not be the country’s next PM?” She agreed.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon voted winner of STV Leaders' Debate in online poll
From there it was all uphill for Swinson, with Neil asking why voters liked her less the more they saw of her. You’ve got an approval rating worse than Nigel Farage, he gasped. Then came lots of twisting in the winds of logic as she backed a second EU vote but refused to support a second Scottish independence referendum.
By far the most excruciating part of the interview, if not for Ms Swinson then for those who do not have the stomach for blood sports, came when Neil took her for a wander down memory lane to the days of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government. You voted nine times to introduce the bedroom tax, he began. You want to scrap the benefits cap now, but you voted for it the first time. The poorest and weakest harmed, Sure Start centres closed. On and on he went, asking if she wanted to apologise to all those who had suffered as a result of Tory-Lib Dem austerity. Unlike a certain Labour leader, she took that opportunity.
READ MORE: Jo Swinson suggests she will not work with SNP for People's Vote if 'price tag' is indyref2
To wrap things up on a cheery note, Neil asked Swinson how well she had to do next Thursday to keep her job. “I’m staying as Lib Dem leader,” she insisted.
It had all been fairly predictable. No great shocks or fireworks. She had got through the interview using the yet to be patented Boris Johnson technique of carrying on talking. Job done? She'll find out next week.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel