I suppose my chief memory of today has to be the moment I was drowned out on national radio ... by a packet of crisps. It wasn't any old packet of crisps. It was a packet being consumed, nay, chomped on by no less a personage than the First Secretary of State himself. Peter Mandelson, for it was he, had finished giving his answer to 5 Lives's Peter Allen so decided to tuck in while I responded to a quizzing from 5 Live's silver fox. Half way through my answer I was interrupted by the programme's presenter, Colin Murray, who asked the Dark Lord if he would mind stop stuffing his face as his mastication was drowning out my answer. Naturally everyone collapsed laughing. The incident provoked a number of tweets to the programme and my own feed, the best of which was that 'Lord Mandelson is the kind of politician who slides up hill'.
He then proceeded to assert that the NIC increase could actually create jobs (no, really) on the basis that when they did it last time in 2002 employment went up the following year. I was having none of that and pointed out to Lord M that we weren't in a recession then, and that as the only one with a mic on who actually runs a business, if my cost base was added to in this manner it was more likely to encourage me to shed staff than employ new ones. He didn't have an answer to that.
Mandelson exuded total confidence in a display of languidness, the like of which you don't often see. He dismissed Sarah Teather as if she didn't exist. Indeed, he pretended he didn't know who she was at first.
What was noticeable today was that College Green was crawling with Labour politicians plus Vince Cable, Chris Huhne and Ming Campbell. The only Shadow Cabinet members I saw in the two hours or so I was there were Messers Gove and Hague. I got a lot of airtime because there didn't seem to be many Tory politicians for the broadcasters to choose from. To be honest I wasn't comfortable with Teather and Mandelson as I felt an obligation to appear as if I were the official Tory spokesman. Fine, I can carry that off, but I'm far happier speaking for myself. Perhaps it's just as well that I'm not a candidate. If I keep telling myself that, one day I may even come to believe it!
To listen to the clip click HERE and scroll in 1 hr 24 mins. I also got a few minutes at the end 1 hr 57.
