What an astonishing reaction there has been to Boris Johnson’s car crash of an interview with Eddie Mair this morning. It’s so typical of our ‘hero to zero’ society. In a way it’s rather pathetic. Some people are seriously positing that after that interview there is no way Boris could ever lead the Tories. It is apparently proof that Boris can’t handle the big time. For Christ’s sake, it is one interview which went spectacularly wrong. And I say this as someone who is not exactly a proponent of a Boris leadership bid.
And on the other side, Eddie Mair is apparently now the greatest interviewer who ever lived. Until, of course, he does a dodgy interview, Then he will be the worst interviewer who ever lived. There is now a clamour for him to take over the Andrew Marr Show permanently. On the basis of one interview, I ask you. I am a huge Eddie Mair fan and love his laid back style. I’d like to see him as a regular presenter on Newsnight, but what will be the reaction when he has a dodgy interview. Well, I imagine those very same people who are eulogising him today will then suggest he should take over the overnight show on Radio Midsomer..
Are you, like me, sick to death of this ‘zero to hero to zero’ school of political and media commentary?
