The most inept political interview ever?

Posted by: dayjay on 02 May 2017

Just watched an interview with Dianne Abbott re Labour's policing pledge which was without doubt the most incompetent performance I have ever seen from a senior politician.  She started off saying that the 10,000 new officers they are proposing would cost £300,000, that's £30 a year which seems pretty poor for all that stress, then altered it to £80 million which is all of £8k per year.  She also denied figures she's just quoted and bumbled her way through the whole interview.  This is the lady who would be Home Secretary is Labour won.  I can only assume that the Labour Party has either been infiltrated by Tory stooges or that they are deliberately trying to lose so that they can rebrand as the Corbyn communist party of Britain.  We are truly all doomed.

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Bruce Woodhouse

The most suicidal was surely Gordon Brown and his 'bigoted woman' comment when he thought he was off camera.

Bruce

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Romi
dayjay posted:

Just watched an interview with Dianne Abbott re Labour's policing pledge which was without doubt the most incompetent performance I have ever seen from a senior politician.  She started off saying that the 10,000 new officers they are proposing would cost £300,000, that's £30 a year which seems pretty poor for all that stress, then altered it to £80 million which is all of £8k per year.  She also denied figures she's just quoted and bumbled her way through the whole interview.  This is the lady who would be Home Secretary is Labour won.  I can only assume that the Labour Party has either been infiltrated by Tory stooges or that they are deliberately trying to lose so that they can rebrand as the Corbyn communist party of Britain.  We are truly all doomed.

Labour also want to disarm us, so they place trust in other countries to do the same.  As a small boy I quickly realised that if I do not stand up to the bully; he or she will persist.  The only politician I really liked from labour was Tony Benn, his views were rather radical but he had his own charm which managed to win a lot of friends.  

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by james n
dayjay posted:

Just watched an interview with Dianne Abbott re Labour's policing pledge which was without doubt the most incompetent performance I have ever seen from a senior politician.  She started off saying that the 10,000 new officers they are proposing would cost £300,000, that's £30 a year which seems pretty poor for all that stress, then altered it to £80 million which is all of £8k per year.  She also denied figures she's just quoted and bumbled her way through the whole interview.  This is the lady who would be Home Secretary is Labour won.  I can only assume that the Labour Party has either been infiltrated by Tory stooges or that they are deliberately trying to lose so that they can rebrand as the Corbyn communist party of Britain.  We are truly all doomed.

Dianne Abbot - the gift that just keeps on giving.

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Mike-B

Apart from Ms Abbott's car crash with LBC,  she had another with Piers Morgan on GMB about who would press the nuke button if labour were in power.  She refused to answer & it rattled Piers,   (copy/paste)    “We believe there are many more pressing threats,”  - and repeatedly dodged the question.  Piers yelled: "It’s yes or no! It’s one of the single most important questions any government in the world could have    ...   if you have to use it - would you use it? Why can nobody on the Labour side say yes or no to that simple question?"     .........  she sure does keep on giving  ............  

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Bruce Woodhouse

I'm afraid I heard someone from Labour being interviewed on radio 5 Sunday am who just dodged and dived a really simple question (about wealthy donors to the party) and almost had me yelling at the radio 'just bl**dy answer! A 'don't know' would have sufficed.

Sure all politicians do it but it seems to be a great number of current Labour MPs are saddled with policies they don't actually fully agree with (and a leader they do not trust) and hence find themselves tied in knots on a frequent basis.

To be fair to Ms Abbott she is a committed Corbynite so had no excuses probably. I have not heard this interview.

Bruce

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by JamieWednesday
Romi posted:
dayjay posted:

Just watched an interview with Dianne Abbott re Labour's policing pledge which was without doubt the most incompetent performance I have ever seen from a senior politician.  She started off saying that the 10,000 new officers they are proposing would cost £300,000, that's £30 a year which seems pretty poor for all that stress, then altered it to £80 million which is all of £8k per year.  She also denied figures she's just quoted and bumbled her way through the whole interview.  This is the lady who would be Home Secretary is Labour won.  I can only assume that the Labour Party has either been infiltrated by Tory stooges or that they are deliberately trying to lose so that they can rebrand as the Corbyn communist party of Britain.  We are truly all doomed.

Labour also want to disarm us, so they place trust in other countries to do the same.  As a small boy I quickly realised that if I do not stand up to the bully; he or she will persist.  The only politician I really liked from labour was Tony Benn, his views were rather radical but he had his own charm which managed to win a lot of friends.  

I quite like Hilary...

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by GraemeH

That was a joy to behold. I haven't laughed so much in ages - Thanks!

G

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by pete T15

She has plenty of history in interviews .. a classic one was on 'This Week' sat alongside Michael Portillo where she claims chairman Mao did more good than harm !! Its worth a watch . Cringe !

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by fatcat
Mike-B posted:

Apart from Ms Abbott's car crash with LBC,  she had another with Piers Morgan on GMB about who would press the nuke button if labour were in power.  She refused to answer & it rattled Piers,   (copy/paste)    “We believe there are many more pressing threats,”  - and repeatedly dodged the question.  Piers yelled: "It’s yes or no! It’s one of the single most important questions any government in the world could have    ...   if you have to use it - would you use it? Why can nobody on the Labour side say yes or no to that simple question?"     .........  she sure does keep on giving  ............  

Since when have successful politicians truthfully answered questions?

I watch prime ministers questions more often than not. Since May has taken over as PM, I can’t recall her actually answering a single question put to her by labour, the libs or Scots.

Good job the shows not called prime ministers answers.

The main problem with Corbyn, is he does answer questions truthfully, that perhaps he shouldn’t.

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by daveyu
dayjay posted:

Just watched an interview with Dianne Abbott re Labour's policing pledge which was without doubt the most incompetent performance I have ever seen from a senior politician.  She started off saying that the 10,000 new officers they are proposing would cost £300,000, that's £30 a year which seems pretty poor for all that stress, then altered it to £80 million which is all of £8k per year.  She also denied figures she's just quoted and bumbled her way through the whole interview.  This is the lady who would be Home Secretary is Labour won.  I can only assume that the Labour Party has either been infiltrated by Tory stooges or that they are deliberately trying to lose so that they can rebrand as the Corbyn communist party of Britain.  We are truly all doomed.

Champagne Socialist

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Timmo1341

Abbott is, without doubt, amongst the worst of a pretty bad bunch. The absence of logic, intellect, debating skills and just a base 6th form level of articulacy amongst most front bench politicians of all parties has worried me for some years. I'm getting very, very close to, for the first time in my life, abstaining in the forthcoming GE. Perhaps I'll turn up and simply spoil my paper, but I honestly cannot identify one party for whom I would feel comfortable voting. The good old days of using the Liberals / SDP / Lib Dems as a protest vote have long gone since Clegg and now Farron have turned them into a laughing stock. UKIP are, thankfully, a spent force, and the 'big 2' frighten me to death, albeit for different reasons. Might just have to turn Green!!

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Don Atkinson

In the past I have voted either Conservative or Liberal. Never Labour and never will.

But I am struggling this time round.

I really don't feel TM is going about Brexit in any meaningfully sensible way. And I don't feel justified in giving her a free hand. My current MP is a Conservative who voted to Remain and at a meeting in March confirmed his intention to press for very close, friendly links with the EU. at tha time he had my support.  At present, he won't clarify his current position on this matter given TM's recent outbursts or his position regarding the MPs' vote at the end of negotiations.

If he doesn't come clean, I might have to protest............

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by R.K
Bruce Woodhouse posted:

To be fair to Ms Abbott she is a committed Corbynite

Well at least she's been committed 

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Eloise

To be fair... at least Labour ministers are there being interviewed... the Conservative party are all hiding from the media!

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by dayjay
Eloise posted:

To be fair... at least Labour ministers are there being interviewed... the Conservative party are all hiding from the media!

The problem is that being interviewed appears to be helping the opposition, they may be better off going into hiding too

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by MDS
dayjay posted:
Eloise posted:

To be fair... at least Labour ministers are there being interviewed... the Conservative party are all hiding from the media!

The problem is that being interviewed appears to be helping the opposition, they may be better off going into hiding too

I might have got my quotes and attribution mangled but I seem to recall Oscar Wilde saying something like 'it is better to be silent and to be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt'. 

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by hungryhalibut

I'm a member of the Labour Party and have never rated Diane Abbott, or Jeremy Corbyn come to that. But as has been said above, at least they are doing interviews. All May can do is say 'strong and stable' at every opportunity. Unable to go off soundbite. And now she's proud that she will be 'difficult' over Brexit. When did being difficult ever lead to effective outcomes? Labour seem inept, the Tories are arrogant, and as for the others.... oh dear. 

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Eloise

Biased reporting but amusing...

"Theresa May eating chips is even more akward than you'd imagine."

http://www.independent.co.uk/n...magine-a7713951.html

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by audio1946

none of the partys are discussing any thing sensible, no wonder the rest of the EURO are laughing their socks off.  where are all the main mps of any party   lib demo leader looks like a ranting fool

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Mike-B

Couldn't agree more about some of the comments above,  HH 100% on all except supporting labour,  pigs will fly first.  Audio1946 yes yes & yes, especially the ranting fool bit.   

I'm disappointed the party manifesto's have not been published yet,  then they (& us) will have something to talk about,  meanwhile its all spin, sound bites, orchestrated gatherings, meetings & press events.   

Posted on: 02 May 2017 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Hungryhalibut posted:

I'm a member of the Labour Party and have never rated Diane Abbott, or Jeremy Corbyn come to that. But as has been said above, at least they are doing interviews. All May can do is say 'strong and stable' at every opportunity. Unable to go off soundbite. And now she's proud that she will be 'difficult' over Brexit. When did being difficult ever lead to effective outcomes? Labour seem inept, the Tories are arrogant, and as for the others.... oh dear. 

I agree true arrogance is not a good thing... but right now there is much stage management, especially to deal with the Juncker/Merkel EU  effect I thought the  comments from Yanis Farouvakis about the likely tactics of the core EU leadership on the UK and pre negotiations  yesterday on Newsnight were very telling on this.. you sometimes perhaps need to take a step back to see really what is happening....

However the Dianne Abbot incident should have been stage managed and confident, aspiring confidence in her party supporters and causing her opponents to pause and think.... I don't believe it did either, but instead just created ridicule and played into Labours perceived weaknesses.. financial ineptness. If you are not going to prepare or be able to be focussed it is better not to do the interviews at all.

Posted on: 03 May 2017 by Mike-B
Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

............   Dianne Abbot incident should have been stage managed and confident, aspiring confidence in her party supporters and causing her opponents to pause and think.... I don't believe it did either, but instead just created ridicule and played into Labours perceived weaknesses.. financial ineptness. If you are not going to prepare or be able to be focussed it is better not to do the interviews at all.

Diane Abbott can never be relied on to do anything aspiring,  as for getting focused !!!   I've watched her for a few years on BBC's 'This Week' as one of the regular labour pundits alongside Michael Portillo.  That led me to be surprised that Corbyn actually appointed her into any shadow cabinet position - although it has to be remembered he did not actually have enough PLP supporters to fill a lot of posts - but surely he must have a level of concern over her abilities with the media & as party leader should have made sure she (all the media facing team) was fully prepared.   So IMO Corbyn has to accept some responsibility.  But it seems to be not so  .......    'I'm not embarrassed in the slightest’ .........  really !!!   

Posted on: 03 May 2017 by fatcat

It doesn’t really show Labours financial ineptness, they knew how much it would cost, all that happened was somebody forgot the figures.

David Davis is about to give a speech, that’ll be a laugh. I wonder if he’ll explain why last week we owed the EU 50 billion, but since May met Juncker the bills gone up to 100 billion.

Now that that is inept.

 

Posted on: 03 May 2017 by andarkian
Eloise posted:

Biased reporting but amusing...

"Theresa May eating chips is even more akward than you'd imagine."

http://www.independent.co.uk/n...magine-a7713951.html

Oh, I don't know! Me eating McDonalds last night was pretty grim according to my wife. Personally, I found the whole experience quite enjoyable; a bit of indigestion now and then is mildly acceptable. 

I saw Abbott with Ferrari and later Coburn yesterday. She is a complete disgrace, an embarrassment to worldwide politics and reduces further any credibility that may remain for the Mother of Parliaments.

Now, just think of that dream team that Jeremy has wrapped round himself: Nugee (white van man hater), McDonnell (IRA murderers and any other terrorist group apologist) who even managed to get kicked out of Livingstone's GLC for manipulating figures yet is of course our Shadow Chancellor, and the fragrant Diane. The only placement suitable for that bunch is as the witches in Act 1 of MacBeth.

Posted on: 03 May 2017 by SKDriver
fatcat posted:

It doesn’t really show Labours financial ineptness, they knew how much it would cost, all that happened was somebody forgot the figures.

David Davis is about to give a speech, that’ll be a laugh. I wonder if he’ll explain why last week we owed the EU 50 billion, but since May met Juncker the bills gone up to 100 billion.

Now that that is inept.

 

Just listened to Angela Raynor being interviewed on 5Live...

She refused to cost Labours' education promises because she didn't know how much they were going to cost; or that Jeremy Corbin had apparently promised a proportion of the £2-3bn extra supposedly raised from capital gains tax towards education.

I'm not a labour supporter but I do feel that we need a strong alternative to the conservatives. Unfortunately Labour is not that since they are completely inept when it comes to any financial realism or planning. One arm literally doesn't know what the other is doing.

FACT