Editor's Note: You can listen to Feedback online or download it here.
This week’s Prime Minister’s Question Time was the most exciting of this Parliament and I had the good fortune to be in the BBC Westminster newsroom on Wednesday while it was going on. I listened eagerly to the immediate political analysis of the Corporation’s keenest political brains as they worked out how to develop the stories that resulted.
It was like watching speed chess. OK I was inside the Westminster bubble but it was immensely impressive. Most of the big broadcasting beasts were there, Andrew Neill, dressed as for an expensive lunch, John Pienaar dressed for radio, and Peter Allan, dressed for the tube.
Peter and I are of a similar age though, sadly, he has rather more hair than I do.
As most of the production staff in the newsroom were either in short trousers or bobby socks or not even born when James Callaghan was Prime Minister, Peter Allan and I reminisced about the unpredictable drama of the 1979 election.
I was running the nightly BBC 1 Tonight series in those days and Callaghan’s government lost a confidence motion while we were on air. An election was called and Mrs Thatcher romped home.
It was a short campaign - perhaps 4 weeks, unlike the present one.
Of course in those days the election could have come at almost any time as the Labour Government’s majority was wafer thin and sometimes non-existent.
In contrast we have known the date of this general election, May 7th, for the last five years.
It is difficult to get too excited at this stage as the opinion polls are refusing to move and none of the main party leaders are very popular. However James Landale managed to make the front pages twice in recent weeks; first, when his visit to Ed Miliband’s house in north London revealed the apparently shocking news that the Labour leader has two kitchens (one only used for making tea and coffee we are told); then when the Prime Minister told his fellow old Etonian that he would not stand for a third term as PM. He even suggested who his possible successors were.
In Feedback this week I asked James Landale whether he had been prompted to ask that question by David Cameron’s aides or had artfully lulled the PM into an indiscretion. You can hear his answer and the rest of the programme here.
We were at the newsroom, located next to where the old Millbank prison once stood. It had a treadmill in which the inmates trudged incessantly, getting nowhere.
When we arrived at 8.30 Norman Smith had been on shift since 5am and when we left after lunch he was still going strong. On a noticeboard someone had chalked 43 days to go.
When I hung up my raincoat I noticed no anoraks.
Measured in terms of productivity all the reporters and producers undoubtedly earn their pay, although I feel sorry for their partners since their phones can never be switched off and they are all always available and desperate to get on air.
Next week we are off to Radio 1’s Newsbeat to find out how they are preparing for the upcoming Election. And for the rest of the programme – well that is up to you.
Happy Listening,
Roger Bolton.
