I love the story behind this. Apparently the producer instructed Paxman to pad out the interview a bit longer because they needed to fill up time. hahaha. Paxman is priceless
That was maybe the last time anyone purporting to be in authority looked tested by anyone who worked for the nazibbc They are now obscene absurd merciless toxic feminine, femnazi as nd passive atrocious. Maybe much worse than direct atrocious. .weak and ultra morally ambivalent... Shameless with sell outs...
@@jamiengo2343 its a reference to dominic cummings and michael gove who both blantantly broke lockdown rules in the uk, and I think it was gove who used the excuse "I was testing my eyesight"
@@burnt_lamp yes I understand the context, I don’t understand how the question “Did you threaten to overrule him” is related to the Barnard Castle situation, in any way. I mean who is overruling or threatening to overruling who
I think he was entitled to express an opinion and he threatened to overrule him because he was expressing an opinion that he was entitled to, which was merely an opinion that was about threatening to overrule him.
Ethan Nino The problem with a lot of interviewers in the US on networks such as CNN and FOX is that they ask questions and then shout "NO NO NO YOU'RE WRONG!" the entire time that the person is trying to answer. Paxman asks a question and only interrupts when they try and get off topic, which is how it should be done.
+Ethan Paxman has been demolished by ann coulter.. he got demolished by tommy robinson, by george galloway, by conrad black. All paxman did here was got to a key question the guy wouldn't answer, and he did it well.. but it's not like american interviewers don't ask questions that politicians refuse to answer
@@eclectica1 With respect, the real question is not did he threaten to overrule you, the real matter is whether he gave you, in strong language, the choice of having cabbage or cauliflower with your Sunday roast.
And this... america... is how you treat senior politicians. You DEMAND they account for their actions... not allowing them to walk out or treat them like they're royalty. This sorry of thing happens to the PM on a regular basis.
@@Sui_Generis0 that's right, he appeared on Paxman's final show as a gag and said no he didn't but Paxman could ask him another 17 times if he likes. Of course he could have been lying...
Was he being evasive? Was he being evasive? Well, as I have said, that's a tough decision and he took advice on what he could and could not do and was prepared to take a tough decision in the light of an independent review which found failings from top to bottom, so he was fully entitled to express his views and entitled to be consulted as he has thoroughly accounted for his decision in front of the House of Commons and the independent review which found failings from top to bottom and ... err.. took a tough decision and... errr.. what was the question again? Oh yes - in the light of an independent review...
This was a great interview. Michael Howard clearly had a strategy in mind. And he stuck to it, to be fair to him. The strategy worked to the extent that it preserved his integrity, but it also became transparent to the point of ridicule, and effectively backfired.
That was maybe the last time anyone purporting to be in authority looked tested by anyone who worked for the nazibbc They are now obscene absurd merciless toxic feminine, femnazi as nd passive atrocious. Maybe much worse than direct atrocious. .weak and ultra morally ambivalent... Shameless with sell outs...
Journalists & Politicians: One kills everything it touches, the other kills everybody it touches. Give me a lunatic with an AK47 anytime, the end result is the same but at least he's not trying to be your friend while he does it.
Frank I'm in two minds about this. If we don't look in the box then Michael both threatened to overrule him and didn't threaten to overrule him in a Copenhagen kinda way. But as soon as you try to extract information about the trajectory or velocity of Michael's threats, then Howard's probability wave function must collapse and he becomes decoherent.
I love this gentleman, Jeremy Paxman, 13 times asking the same question and the man refused to answer. Unfortunately when Ana Pastor, the presenter of an Spanish TV show called "El Objetivo", asks the same question few times she is highly criticised. It’s about time we learn to accept that if a politician does not want to answer a question, is the presenter’s right to ask again and again. She or he, the politician, owes us that.
That was maybe the last time anyone purporting to be in authority looked tested by anyone who worked for the nazibbc They are now obscene absurd merciless toxic feminine, femnazi as nd passive atrocious. Maybe much worse than direct atrocious. .weak and ultra morally ambivalent... Shameless with sell outs...
"Did you threaten to overrule him?"..... "Did you threaten to overrule him?....." DID you threaten to overrule him?"..... Can you imagine Howard waking up in the middle of the night screaming for weeks after that?
oh gosh, sometimes politicians are not really the easiest people... he asked him the question 13 times, and still he didn't answer with a short "yes" or "no" ^^
This is still one of the most epic political interviews ever. Paxman wanted blood and Howard, a barrister, knew exactly what he couldn't say while never answering the question which he never answered.
Just watched on the Parky interview the only reason why he kept repeating the question was because the producer said in his earpiece they'd put in a new tape to record more of the conversation and the only thing he could think of was repeating the question. brilliant quick thinking
"Was Jeremy Paxman out of line with his questioning" I won't pretend to fully understand the context here and I'm rather bad at researching these kinds of things, but since it sounds like Paxman was asking about alleged political misconduct or impropriety done during the course of a politician's work, no, Paxman wasn't out of line. It's the job of a journalist to ask those questions, and it's the duty of a good journalist to set noses to the grindstone if they can't get an answer. Good journalism is a dead art today. "or was Michael Howard being over evasive?" Yes. Sometimes you need to clarify, as above. Sometimes you don't. Yes, Howard should've just answered the damn question instead of smiling like a psychopath when he's being challenged.
EdwardHowton although compared to the shite British politics has been through in the last 10-15 years - and in the last months - the topic being discussed here compares to kids stealing a handful of candies from a jar...
@@quintiniusverginix7827 Rain is a phenomenon where water falls from the sky. I don't need to have a PhD in the physics of the water cycle to make a general statement of fact, do I? Same deal here, you insipid twit.
He's dodging the question - Paxman was specifically interested in the "threaten" part of the question, but he constantly shifted away from it saying "it had already been discussed"
haha i love that at the beginning of this, the woman looks up just before she goes off screen as if to say 'Thank God for that, oh he drones on' Hahhaha!!!!!! Paxman is awesome though hehe
I’ve always wanted to get “did you threaten to overrule him?” printed on a t-shirt along with what Malcolm Tucker would describe as Paxman’s “horse face of mock incredulity” underneath.
The number one rule for television interviews is to mentally ask yourself the question "Do I want to look like Michael Howard?". If you don't, just say EITHER "yes" or "no"
He did, and that is why he never deviated from his statement. It is, in a way, a win for both for both of them. Paxman for making Howard look like a fool, and Howard for never explicitly admitting that he had lied, nor did he accused the shadow chancellor of slander. He stonewalled him until Paxman dropped the matter.
Michael Howard: "...I hope we're not spend this entire interview talking about flowers and things like that." Paxman: (thinks "OK then") "Mr Howard, have you ever lied in any public statement?" One of the most (in)famous interviews that, if I recall from hearing somewhere and - like a lot of the most memorable moments - happened by accident. The interview should've been shorter but apparently the next recorded package piece wasn't ready and Paxman was told to carry on in the meantime.
Howard became Tory leader just after the Tory government of 17 years' standing was defeated. Landslide 240 seat majority for Labour. It doesn't say much about Howard really.
bunter chup At the time, the facts were being sourced by a supposed informant, who was saying there was some very big WMD projects in Iraq, and that was the pretext of the war.. Why on earth would the BBC or whoever object to that and be foolish enough to be "impartial", "unbiased" or "balanced" when at the time this was believed to be true?? Specially from a dictator who had no trouble gassing thousands of Kurds.. Only a fool who is truly delusional in thinking that this isn't something to be concerned or think twice or three times about would grill a PM who is taking steps to ensure even remotely that doesn't happen (his job role)... Later on this wasn't the case and it turned out to be false, because the informant was a bullshitter and was just talking crap to be treated nicely by the Americans.. Whether they knew that and it was just an excuse is a different matter of discussion, because that's not what you are talking about. Rather if it turned out to be true, then what.
The slippery Paxman admitted in 2009 that he'd been “hoodwinked’” by Bush and Blair's lies and deceptions leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Also, I think the word “facts” in this context deserves quotation marks, seen as there weren't any WMD wouldn't you agree? Do you suppose the BBC would have given as much air time to some unnamed, anonymous source who claimed that WMD didn’t exist? As for - “Believed to be true” By whom are you referring to here exactly? Not by the majority of the British public, nor by Hans Blix or Scott Ritter, the chief UN arms inspectors in Iraq it wasn’t. They said that Iraq had been 'fundamentally disarmed' by 1998 and its nuclear capability 100% destroyed. And that the limited shelf-lives for any residual Iraqi chemical weapons meant they would have already turned into harmless sludge.. Why didn't Paxman raise these points to Blair? The BBC went ludicrously soft on those Government mouthpieces spinning these lies. Yet Paxman has the nerve to say now he was 'hoodwinked' this is an insult. The war on Iraq was about oil and geostrategic power, and has exacerbated the terrorist threat against the West. Have you heard that notion repeated on the BBC lately?
"I hope we're not going to spend this interview talking about Flowers and things like that" God if he only knew what was going to happen he might have preffered such a discussion.
It's so sad that German news people never grill their interview partners. Politicians who are always trying to avoid any straight answers, don't they realize, how ridiculous all this is? I ask you a question "yes" or "no". And all I hear is "I did, what I was entitled to do": Screw that. Fortunately this guy never became that popular in the party, did he?
for anyone not aware, something had gone wrong technically and paxman was repeating the question to gain time for them to fix the problem. i may have a few details wrong but thats basically what went on
He had the opportunity in 2015. He didn't, and went after Miliband instead in a rather unprofessional and personal way. The guy is partisan as much as he is entertaining.
"Mr Howard, have you ever lied in any public statement?" When Michael Howard answered that question (which was obviously a lie of an answer), you could see the hesitation in his eyes after answering. All politicians are liars, my law teacher told me that and it's so true.
Brilliant thing was if paxman had turned around and gone "and the question of whether you threatened an official with something you were not entitled to do is just as important as the question of whether you were entitled to do it" he would have been forced to apologise, but paxman left it so he would look as bad as possible, despite the fact that he handled the question perfectly.
He got him to say "yes" from so many angles it's just hilarious.
cx1735 when?
Oliver Payne His refusal to say yes caused him to say alot of things, which shows alot about him. To my understanding.
I don't know why but I think he might've threatened to overrule him.
Hahaha I think so!
But did he threaten to overrule him?
I didn't get that feeling at all?
I don't know why, but I think you can't spell 'threatened' - oh wait, I _do_ know why.
Hmm, really? Lol 😆.
I love the story behind this. Apparently the producer instructed Paxman to pad out the interview a bit longer because they needed to fill up time. hahaha. Paxman is priceless
You can just see pure joy in Paxman's face when he keeps dodging the question
That was maybe the last time anyone purporting to be in authority looked tested by anyone who worked for the nazibbc
They are now obscene absurd merciless toxic feminine, femnazi as nd passive atrocious. Maybe much worse than direct atrocious. .weak and ultra morally ambivalent... Shameless with sell outs...
I like the bit where he threatened to overrule him.
+Gwasgray i'm not sure if he threatened to overrule him. has he threatened to overrule him?
No peeple bit is better.
.
Did he tho?
Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him?
Howard: I had chocolate-flavour ice cream last Saturday.
ivo alex I’m fucking howling!!!! 😂😂😂
More relevant than most politician answers.
Did you threaten to overrule him?
@@Eclipse2582 Bring u closer to the Jury.. in a hot enviroment..
“Did you threaten to overrule him?”
“I drove to Barnard Castle to test my eyesight...”
A H this comment makes zero sense
@@jamiengo2343 its a reference to dominic cummings and michael gove who both blantantly broke lockdown rules in the uk, and I think it was gove who used the excuse "I was testing my eyesight"
@@burnt_lamp yes I understand the context, I don’t understand how the question
“Did you threaten to overrule him” is related to the Barnard Castle situation, in any way. I mean who is overruling or threatening to overruling who
@@jamiengo2343 I think it just refers to the sleazy nature of both of these situations
Hahaha
Jeremy Paxman is a legend. I wish more interviewers were this tenacious.
He and Andrew Neil are brilliant 👏
I just discovered this as an American and I am in love with this absolute savagery.
+NullG7 you like sargon too, eh?
+Social Justice Snippets
I listen to his content
+NullG7 Same here. C:
#AkkadNation
too bad they interview like Americans now
I am here because dat boi potholer54
I think he threatened to overrule him
I think he was entitled to express an opinion and he threatened to overrule him because he was expressing an opinion that he was entitled to, which was merely an opinion that was about threatening to overrule him.
20 years later Michael Howard said "I do not recall threatening to overrule him." Thank god that's now cleared up.
@@peterd440 LOL, that's almost too bad to be false!
This is a distinct possibility 🤔
I don't know what these guys were talking about. All I know is that he threatened to overrule him.
"Did you threaten to shag his dog?"
"I did not shag his dog."
"I was not entitled to shag his dog, and his dog was not shagged."
The dog was shaggy already !
ITILII So you're saying that this is a shaggy dog story?
Sounds about right
"I sought advice on whether or not I could shag his dog, and I did not shag his dog."
"I have, an esteemed reputation among the canine community, and the dog will affirm that I did not shag him or any other dogs in question"
Paxmans a terrible interviewer he should have asked Howard if he threatened to over rule him.
je me demande lmaaaaoooo! omg I'm crying at this comment.
Didn’t watch to the end. What happened? Did he threaten to overrule him?
@@TomMarrJohnson maybe he just threatened to threaten to overrule him...
you guys so retarded look at 4:03 look at it at 0.25 speed he quietly says it
I did not overrule him
If only interviewers in the US were as interrogative and scathing as Paxman towards elected officials...
never gonna happen
Ethan Nino The problem with a lot of interviewers in the US on networks such as CNN and FOX is that they ask questions and then shout "NO NO NO YOU'RE WRONG!" the entire time that the person is trying to answer. Paxman asks a question and only interrupts when they try and get off topic, which is how it should be done.
+Ethan Paxman has been demolished by ann coulter.. he got demolished by tommy robinson, by george galloway, by conrad black. All paxman did here was got to a key question the guy wouldn't answer, and he did it well.. but it's not like american interviewers don't ask questions that politicians refuse to answer
Ethan Nino Ted Koppel comes to mind......
boliussa other way around
You can skip straight to 4:10 if you prefer
+Tony Hall Did you threaten to overrule my decision to watch the first four minutes and nine seconds first?
Did you threaten me to skip to 4:10?
@@eclectica1 With respect, the real question is not did he threaten to overrule you, the real matter is whether he gave you, in strong language, the choice of having cabbage or cauliflower with your Sunday roast.
And this... america... is how you treat senior politicians.
You DEMAND they account for their actions... not allowing them to walk out or treat them like they're royalty.
This sorry of thing happens to the PM on a regular basis.
The two did another interview a few years later and Paxman asked him straight off the bat. He confessed that he DID indeed threaten to overrule him.
I heard he said he didn't?
@@Sui_Generis0 that's right, he appeared on Paxman's final show as a gag and said no he didn't but Paxman could ask him another 17 times if he likes. Of course he could have been lying...
"I did NOT overrule him-"
"Did you _threaten_ to overrule him?"
Paxman is a genius. The BBC needs more interviewers like this.
First rule when dealing with politicians, never believe something they say unless its been officially denied.
Was he being evasive? Was he being evasive? Well, as I have said, that's a tough decision and he took advice on what he could and could not do and was prepared to take a tough decision in the light of an independent review which found failings from top to bottom, so he was fully entitled to express his views and entitled to be consulted as he has thoroughly accounted for his decision in front of the House of Commons and the independent review which found failings from top to bottom and ... err.. took a tough decision and... errr.. what was the question again? Oh yes - in the light of an independent review...
This was a great interview. Michael Howard clearly had a strategy in mind. And he stuck to it, to be fair to him. The strategy worked to the extent that it preserved his integrity, but it also became transparent to the point of ridicule, and effectively backfired.
His integrity was completely shattered and he was shown to be a typical lying politician!
That was maybe the last time anyone purporting to be in authority looked tested by anyone who worked for the nazibbc
They are now obscene absurd merciless toxic feminine, femnazi as nd passive atrocious. Maybe much worse than direct atrocious. .weak and ultra morally ambivalent... Shameless with sell outs...
Yes but.. Did you threaten to over-rule him?
History will one day recognise this clip as the last example of a televised effort by a BBC journalist to get the simple truth out of an MP.
2019: Confirmed
Journalists & Politicians: One kills everything it touches, the other kills everybody it touches.
Give me a lunatic with an AK47 anytime, the end result is the same but at least he's not trying to be your friend while he does it.
A leader of a major party, not just any old MP
That day is now.
You’re all ignoring Andrew Neil a little bit here, Gents.
Nearly 30 years ago… still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on television.. 🤣🤣🤣
I love Paxman and his interview techniques, and to see a Tory squirm like that makes me extremely happy.
I remember watching this at the time and thinking everyone is going to be talking about it the next day. God bless youtube that it will live forever.
The thought of "balling out" anne widdecombe sickens me.
Frank Schrodinger haha!!!!!
Lol oh dear
She’s said she is a virgin and having seen her I can believe it.
Frank I'm in two minds about this. If we don't look in the box then Michael both threatened to overrule him and didn't threaten to overrule him in a Copenhagen kinda way. But as soon as you try to extract information about the trajectory or velocity of Michael's threats, then Howard's probability wave function must collapse and he becomes decoherent.
She'd destroy Michael Howard.
We had a lecture on interview technique recently, and this clip was used extensively...wonderful stuff!
what i didn't get is: did he threaten to overrule him?
Michael almost looks as though he's smiling.
As do many evil masterminds...
Poor Derrick Lewis forever being linked to this train wreck
I love this gentleman, Jeremy Paxman, 13 times asking the same question and the man refused to answer. Unfortunately when Ana Pastor, the presenter of an Spanish TV show called "El Objetivo", asks the same question few times she is highly criticised. It’s about time we learn to accept that if a politician does not want to answer a question, is the presenter’s right to ask again and again.
She or he, the politician, owes us that.
That was maybe the last time anyone purporting to be in authority looked tested by anyone who worked for the nazibbc
They are now obscene absurd merciless toxic feminine, femnazi as nd passive atrocious. Maybe much worse than direct atrocious. .weak and ultra morally ambivalent... Shameless with sell outs...
;bluhhhh 😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒😒
13 times? I counted 'only' 12. Damn, I have to watch it again now. :)
@@ajpizzy1 Sorry, you are right. I "gave him" an extra one.
@@milly5678899 , it's good that you admitted your mistake. Now I don't have to threaten to overrule you. :...)
Paxman is like a cat teasing a half-dead mouse in his paws. Gold.
"Did you threaten to overrule him?"..... "Did you threaten to overrule him?....." DID you threaten to overrule him?"..... Can you imagine Howard waking up in the middle of the night screaming for weeks after that?
oh gosh, sometimes politicians are not really the easiest people... he asked him the question 13 times, and still he didn't answer with a short "yes" or "no" ^^
This is good Paxman; where he wasn't self-parody, and where he seemed to build an investigation in front of your eyes.
This is still one of the most epic political interviews ever. Paxman wanted blood and Howard, a barrister, knew exactly what he couldn't say while never answering the question which he never answered.
I half expected Howard to stand up and scream "You can't handle the truth!"
But did he threaten to overrule him?
No, he did not overrule him.
I love the bit at 5:01 where Howard comes close to voicing his enthusiastic agreement that Paxman is being frightfully rude.
"Mr Howard, have you ever lied in any public statement?"
Love it. You know shit's about to go down...
Wrote to Michael Howard a few years back.. had a long, long reply and all in his own hand.
I hope u asked him the burning question of whether he threatened to overrule him?
Anyone else feel like they threaten to overrule him?
Do you think he did?
Could there be a more persuasive demonstration of why people have, more than ever, disengaged from politics than this interview?
Oh how times have changed...
You mean because interviews like this don't happen any more?
Did he threaten to overrule him?
97channel I'm guessing that he did, yes.
Did he THREATEN to overrule him?
97channel Depends what your definition of 'is' is.
I note you're not answering the question of whether he threatened to overrule him.
He certainly did not overrule him, nor was he entitled to do that...
They say you can never get a straight answer from a politician, lol now I'm convinced XD
So...did he threaten to overrule him?!
lblythe01 The relevant point is what he was and wasn't entitled to do. He wasn't entitled to instruct Mr. Lewis, and he did not.
but you didn't answer the question. Did he THREATEN to overule him?
AeProjects4u He said he wasn't entitled to instruct, which implies he couldn't have threatened to overrule.
armand011
The question was not whteher he 'IMPLIED' or not, Did He Threaten To Overule? Yes/No?
I already forgot what everything was about again..
Howard's face is like that of a statue. He projects as much emotion as a brick wall. Mean while, Paxman just looked bored.
Just watched on the Parky interview the only reason why he kept repeating the question was because the producer said in his earpiece they'd put in a new tape to record more of the conversation and the only thing he could think of was repeating the question. brilliant quick thinking
Poor Howard was hardly blinking and looking Paxman dead in the eye, almost trying to prove his toughness.
"Yes, I threatened to overrule him"
That's all he had to say. We all know he did.
Legend has it Howard is still dodging the question.
Rory Bremners impression of Michael Howard is amazing, watching Bremner do an impression of him and then watching this it's spot on!
Creepier than the real thing, if you can possibly imagine that.
"Was Jeremy Paxman out of line with his questioning"
I won't pretend to fully understand the context here and I'm rather bad at researching these kinds of things, but since it sounds like Paxman was asking about alleged political misconduct or impropriety done during the course of a politician's work, no, Paxman wasn't out of line. It's the job of a journalist to ask those questions, and it's the duty of a good journalist to set noses to the grindstone if they can't get an answer. Good journalism is a dead art today.
"or was Michael Howard being over evasive?"
Yes. Sometimes you need to clarify, as above. Sometimes you don't. Yes, Howard should've just answered the damn question instead of smiling like a psychopath when he's being challenged.
EdwardHowton although compared to the shite British politics has been through in the last 10-15 years - and in the last months - the topic being discussed here compares to kids stealing a handful of candies from a jar...
Why are you attempting to analyse the interview if you know nothing about the context?
@@quintiniusverginix7827 Rain is a phenomenon where water falls from the sky.
I don't need to have a PhD in the physics of the water cycle to make a general statement of fact, do I? Same deal here, you insipid twit.
He thrashed him :) Well done Paxman
He's dodging the question - Paxman was specifically interested in the "threaten" part of the question, but he constantly shifted away from it saying "it had already been discussed"
i liked the bit where he asked if he threatened to overrule him
4:13 the kick off point 🤣
Arguably the best news reader v politician interview ever
Classic Paxman. He's a legend.
He was brave enough to give a Interview . I give him credit .
haha i love that at the beginning of this, the woman looks up just before she goes off screen as if to say 'Thank God for that, oh he drones on' Hahhaha!!!!!! Paxman is awesome though hehe
I’ve always wanted to get “did you threaten to overrule him?” printed on a t-shirt along with what Malcolm Tucker would describe as Paxman’s “horse face of mock incredulity” underneath.
this is ridiculously good. Howard is the definition of a politician.
The number one rule for television interviews is to mentally ask yourself the question "Do I want to look like Michael Howard?". If you don't, just say EITHER "yes" or "no"
If an interviewer asks you if you are absolutely sure there's nothing you'd like to change - you surely must know something is coming
He did, and that is why he never deviated from his statement. It is, in a way, a win for both for both of them. Paxman for making Howard look like a fool, and Howard for never explicitly admitting that he had lied, nor did he accused the shadow chancellor of slander. He stonewalled him until Paxman dropped the matter.
Like every other politician, they never answer a question.
Michael Howard: "...I hope we're not spend this entire interview talking about flowers and things like that."
Paxman: (thinks "OK then") "Mr Howard, have you ever lied in any public statement?"
One of the most (in)famous interviews that, if I recall from hearing somewhere and - like a lot of the most memorable moments - happened by accident. The interview should've been shorter but apparently the next recorded package piece wasn't ready and Paxman was told to carry on in the meantime.
Can we go back to discussing flowers Jeremy?
@@rw8733 And things like that?
Amazing that he was briefly elected leader after this interview. This should have been a career ender.
Howard became Tory leader just after the Tory government of 17 years' standing was defeated. Landslide 240 seat majority for Labour. It doesn't say much about Howard really.
Fantastic, this is the watchdog role of the media at its best.
I think you're dreaming slightly there old chap. Paxman consistently went soft on Blair in the run up to the Iraq invasion.
bunter chup
He should have? Toppling a dictator who gassed Kurds, I would stay quiet too and choose my fights.
Perhaps you would! However, many wouldn't and the BBC are meant to be impartial, unbiased. and balanced.
bunter chup At the time, the facts were being sourced by a supposed informant, who was saying there was some very big WMD projects in Iraq, and that was the pretext of the war.. Why on earth would the BBC or whoever object to that and be foolish enough to be "impartial", "unbiased" or "balanced" when at the time this was believed to be true?? Specially from a dictator who had no trouble gassing thousands of Kurds.. Only a fool who is truly delusional in thinking that this isn't something to be concerned or think twice or three times about would grill a PM who is taking steps to ensure even remotely that doesn't happen (his job role)... Later on this wasn't the case and it turned out to be false, because the informant was a bullshitter and was just talking crap to be treated nicely by the Americans.. Whether they knew that and it was just an excuse is a different matter of discussion, because that's not what you are talking about.
Rather if it turned out to be true, then what.
The slippery Paxman admitted in 2009 that he'd been “hoodwinked’” by Bush and Blair's lies and deceptions leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
Also, I think the word “facts” in this context deserves quotation marks, seen as there weren't any WMD wouldn't you agree?
Do you suppose the BBC would have given as much air time to some unnamed, anonymous source who claimed that WMD didn’t exist?
As for - “Believed to be true” By whom are you referring to here exactly? Not by the majority of the British public, nor by Hans Blix or Scott Ritter, the chief UN arms inspectors in Iraq it wasn’t. They said that Iraq had been 'fundamentally disarmed' by 1998 and its nuclear capability 100% destroyed. And that the limited shelf-lives for any residual Iraqi chemical weapons meant they would have already turned into harmless sludge.. Why didn't Paxman raise these points to Blair?
The BBC went ludicrously soft on those Government mouthpieces spinning these lies. Yet Paxman has the nerve to say now he was 'hoodwinked' this is an insult.
The war on Iraq was about oil and geostrategic power, and has exacerbated the terrorist threat against the West. Have you heard that notion repeated on the BBC lately?
If people think that Paxman is a tough, uncompromising interviewer, they have clearly never seen Robin Day
I like the bit where he said "Did you threaten to overrule him?"
I must have missed that part ....
I expressed my opinion in strong language: pretty much "I threatened to overrule him". Hahaha.
I love the look on this guy's face, lol! He looks so uncomfortable and nervous all the way through. I couldn't stop laughing!
"I hope we're not going to spend this interview talking about Flowers and things like that"
God if he only knew what was going to happen he might have preffered such a discussion.
Howard's demeanour screams "I'm a butthurt little girl, let me cry in the corner".
Raj Singh hardly....more like he couldn't give a fuck
He threatened to answer the question, but didn't. He never recovered from this.
"Have you ever lied?"
"Certainly........................................................... not"
Comedy gold. It's straight out of an episode of Yes Minister. :)
It's so sad that German news people never grill their interview partners. Politicians who are always trying to avoid any straight answers, don't they realize, how ridiculous all this is? I ask you a question "yes" or "no". And all I hear is "I did, what I was entitled to do": Screw that. Fortunately this guy never became that popular in the party, did he?
Jeadeen He became party leader in 2003, but resigned in 2005
Oh, I wish to God we in Australia had an interviewer of this strength.
Paxman needs too come back and grill them hard
Paxman vs Johnson and Corbyn would be great.
"Its a simple yes or no question? Did you threaten to bum him"
1:35 "...but I hope we're not going to spend this interview talking about flowers and things like that."
Be careful what you wish for.
"Why did you ball out Ann Widdecombe..?" Absolute genius!!!! Lol!!!!
Newsnight is nothing without Jeremy Paxman.
JJ H so true
This is the most hilarious interview I've ever seen!!
"Did you threatened to over-rule him?"
"I..er...well...er...YES!... obviously."
Michael Howard is the current record holder for the longest Yes/No game in the world.
for anyone not aware, something had gone wrong technically and paxman was repeating the question to gain time for them to fix the problem. i may have a few details wrong but thats basically what went on
Jeremy Paxman: *Are you going to answer any questions tonight?*
Michael Howard: The real question is "are you going to ask the right questions?"
Deceiving for two minutes straight and smiling about it, he's the perfect Tory politician!
Apparently some papers said he sort of did threaten to overrule Derek Lewis but that he asked a civil servant if he had the power to do so.
We will miss you Jeremy! Newsnight won't be the same
He didn't threaten to overrule him , just came out recently
I wish Paxman was still around to grill Cameron .
He had the opportunity in 2015. He didn't, and went after Miliband instead in a rather unprofessional and personal way.
The guy is partisan as much as he is entertaining.
"Mr Howard, have you ever lied in any public statement?"
When Michael Howard answered that question (which was obviously a lie of an answer), you could see the hesitation in his eyes after answering. All politicians are liars, my law teacher told me that and it's so true.
Just saw Jeremy's last show. Michael Howard appeared to joke about this moment!
4:23 Is the start of the action :) Love Paxman
Brilliant thing was if paxman had turned around and gone "and the question of whether you threatened an official with something you were not entitled to do is just as important as the question of whether you were entitled to do it" he would have been forced to apologise, but paxman left it so he would look as bad as possible, despite the fact that he handled the question perfectly.