Sunday 25 September 2016

"Well look, I think - I think I’ve given you a pretty - a pretty fully and fair answer there, Andrew"


Today's paper reviewers, including Isabel Hardman

Marr told a Soft Brexit Vs. Hard Brexit lie this morning about one side wanting "a complete block on immigration", full stop, and Isabel Hardman nodded in agreement. 
The relevant quote from Andrew Marr runs as follows (from 15:53), leading on from his earlier question, "Behind this there is a really, really difficult choice in front of the country, which is being characterised as 'Hard Brexit v Soft Brexit', Explain Isabel!":
So it's a question of whether we try and get out very quickly and don't be part of the Single Market, have a complete block on immigration, or do we do it gently and more softly. That is the big argument inside the party, isn't it?
This is a complete misrepresentation, for sure.

And as for David's other point...
Other than that, it was more appeasement of Corbynistas to mitigate all the complaints they've obviously been getting. 
...well, that's been my impression too from what I've seen and heard of the BBC (so far) today. 

I've never heard so many Corbynistas on the BBC before...

...(I'd say, alluding to Tennyson, that there's been 'Corbynistas to the left of me, Corbynistas to the right of me', but they could only ever really be 'to the left of me'. Boom, boom!!)...

...and certainly not such a balance of Corbynistas and Labour non-Corbynistas before.

There were two Corbynistas on Marr, two Corbynistas on The Sunday Politics; a Corbynista and a Corbynista-friendly MP on Broadcasting House....and all (including Jeremy Corbyn himself) were given a surprisingly gentle handling by their BBC interviewers (unlike the tough grillings that faced John McDonnell on ITV's Peston and Sky's Murnaghan.

That said (in an amusing echo of the kinds of comment I've seen so many times over the years from the other side of the political spectrum), there were plenty of Corbynistas seeing a dark 'BBC bias' conspiracy over the many technical glitches during Andrew Marr's interview with Jeremy Corbyn today. 

Boris (as you can see)

Andrew Marr's interview with Boris wasn't exactly a toughie either, but it certainly wasn't without its 'angles', such as:
For the economy to carry on growing and us to have a really good post Brexit boom we do need of course lots of skilled migrant workers with specific skills still coming into the country. You always said that you were about the only politician in the country prepared to stand up and say, ‘I am pro immigration.’ Are you still pro immigration?
"Yes sir, I am", replied Boris before saying that the numbers are too high, Mr Marr persisted:
But for the economy to carry on growing we need considerable numbers into the construction industry, the NHS, banking, the universities and a lot of those will come from the EU, so people who voted Brexit thinking that was it - no more immigration from the EU were completely wrong. Which leads me to the tens of thousands promise which, in this context, seems barmy. 
Andrew then pursued - as you'd expect from a Remainer - the famous '£350 million to the EU' figure, which he duly 'fisked' in his question to Mr Johnson [another Mr Johnson - Paul Johnson of the IFS - would doubtless approve!]:
A lot of people voted for Brexit because they saw the adverts suggesting a lot of money coming to the NHS. Now the 350 million was much discussed. If you drill into Vote Leave figures it’s perhaps nearer a hundred million pounds a week coming net. Andrew Lansley, has suggested that by the end of his parliament the NHS should be getting about £5 billion a year as a result of us quitting the EU. For all those people who looked at the posters, listened to people like you, watched the broadcasts and think the NHS is definitely going to get a really substantial amount of money per week as a result of us leaving the EU, can you pledge, as a member of the new government, that will happen by the end of this parliament, providing we’ve left?

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