There's been a lot of reaction to this, much of it uninformed, so I thought I'd put the record straight.

 

I was on Adam Boulton's 'All Out Politics' show yesterday to review the comment pages with The Guardian's Jessica Elgot. As you will see in the above video, Adam asked me a question which implied Brexit was a project of the Right and was it right that the country should be handed over to a Brexit supporting right winger, implying that this in some way would be a disgrace. Well, that's the implication I took, anyway. I reacted by saying that there would be quite a few Labour voters who would disagree with this analysis.

I said what I wanted to say, quite calmly, and Adam took it in good part. He then went to a commercial break. As the adverts started he turned to me and said: "This right wing thing, it's all bollocks". Unbeknown to him the Sky sound people hadn't faded his microphone, and that sentence went out on air.

Twitter noticed. Bigly.

Now, given Nick Watt said 'fuck' on Newsnight on Thursday night, I couldn't quite see why people were getting so exercised. Ah, people said, Nick Watt was quoting an MP. So that's alright then. 

Adam clearly saw what was happening and tweeted an apology.

A debate then started as to what Adam and I said to each other following his bollocks comment

I wouldn't normally comment on this, but the outrageous comments against Adam on social media deserve to be rebutted. It was a perfectly amicable conversation. I asked Adam if he considered me right wing, given I have 'wet as a lettuce' views on immigration and most social issues. I gently pointed out that there are plenty of so-called one nation Tories who had voted Leave. I should have also pointed out that 30% of LibDem voters did too. We had a laugh and parted as friends, as we always do.

What people don't seem to understand is that interviewers often ask 'devil's advocate' questions. This does not necessarily imply that the content or tone of the question emanates from their own personal views. I do it myself quite often. It can appear provocative but is entirely legitimate. 

Adam Boulton is a giant in his field. I've known him for many years and am an admirer. It wasn't his fault that the mic was left on and the abuse he has had on social media is unwarranted. He's big enough and ugly enough to take it, but he shouldn't have to. No one should.

I've had a similar experience today after posting this tweet late last night.

Honestly, from the reaction, you'd have thought I had defended Fred West. So far that tweet has had 2,200 replies. And almost all of them appallingly rude, abusive and downright horrible. It's got to the point where I haven't even looked at my Twitter timeline. And all because I had the temerity to defend someone I've known for 15 years, worked with and admire. 

Well, as Nick Watt might say, fuck 'em.