BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 34
TA B L E TA L K
Nick Ferrari interviewing Sir Keir Starmer
I apologised if I had embarrassed him
in some way.
she told me.
He was 昀氀ailing. “No, no, no, no, it’s
just …”
More incredulity on my behalf. “Good
Lord! Where will you get the money
for that?”
I restated my question. “Well, it’s
just... can a woman have a penis?”
“We’ll abolish mortgage relief for
private landlords.”
There never was an answer and
instead he took us into the area of
biology and something about women
“smashing glass ceilings”, but I will
let you know if he gets back to me.
“And how much will that be worth?”
4) Natalie Bennett
Here, we revisit the 2015 General
Election, and the launch of the Green
Party’s manifesto. That morning, party
leader Natalie Bennett came on the
show to herald her party’s good work.
After some meaningless waf昀氀e about
electoral priorities, it was time to get
down to speci昀椀cs. I started by asking
her about her party’s housing policies.
“We want to ensure everyone has a
secure, affordable place to live and we
will build 500,000 new social homes,”
“Well…it’s a part of our total
costings.”
I had to press her on that. “Ok, but
can I get the precise cost of 500,000
homes?”
A long pause and much papershuf昀氀ing ensued. “Erm, er, well, it’ll
be spelt out later.”
“You don’t know, do you, Ms.
Bennett?”
“We’re looking at a total spend of £2.7
billion.”
I did a rough calculation in my head.
“What! 500,000 homes for £2.7
billion? What are they made of?
Plywood?”
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ISSUE 24
She tried to stick to her guns. “We’re
looking at a cost of £60,000 per
home.”
I was unconvinced, to put it mildly.
“Obviously that can’t include the land,
and £60,000 is not much more than a
large conservatory with bifold doors!”
Unfortunately, Ms. (now Baroness)
Bennett started coughing continuously,
and the interview (which she
subsequently labelled “excruciatingly
awful”) pretty much ended. The
Greens returned just one MP at that
election, and their total number of
votes amounted to less than a third of
UKIP’s.
5) Michael Gove
Undoubtedly one of the most skilled
communicators in recent governments,
you immediately knew it was a tough
day for the government during the
Coronavirus pandemic 昀椀ve years ago
if “The Govester” was wheeled out for
a round of interviews.
One such day resulted from utter
confusion (but was there ever anything
else?) about exactly what constituted a
