Tavish Scott is a pathetic spectacle these days, reflecting all the pressures that are destroying his boss Nick Clegg’s credibility and morale, but with the certain knowledge that he and his Scottish ‘party’ will face the wrath of the electorate just over three week, while the architect of his misfortunes and his fellow jerry builders may be able to defer the consequences of their folly for year or so.
Tavish and the Scottish LibDems quite simply are expendable in the Cleggite game plan, and Danny Alexander and Michael Moore, having tasted the heady delights of the illusion of power, are focused firmly on their Westminster fortunes, and the next general election. Poor Tavish, a nice guy in the LibDem feeble and ineffectual LibDem mould of niceness, knows this all too well, and could be forgiven for looking enviously at his predecessor Nicol Stephen, now Baron Stephen of Lower Deeside in the City of Aberdeen, sitting comfortably in the Lords. Retreat to the farm must be a seductive prospect for Tavish the Panicking.
But he puts a brave, if logically incoherent face on things, because what he ‘hears on the doorstep’ – the politician’s last defence when all around him is crumbling – is different from what the polls say, from what the media says, from what the pundits say.
I don’t doubt it – faced with this shy boyish grin and self-deprecating style, exuding vulnerability and lack of confidence, it would take a heart of stone not to try to say something reassuring lest he burst into tears. And last night’s Twitter comments towards the end and just after the interview tended to the Poor Tavish, nasty Gordon Brewer type, including from those who did not share his politics.
I have a heart of stone (in political, if not in cardiac terms) when it comes to ineffectual politicians. I don’t want nice guys crying in their beers – I want robust, decisive, analytical politicians with sound values, pragmatism and a belief in Scots and Scotland.
Go back to the farm gracefully, Tavish, and live happily ever after – the political kitchen has got too hot for you, and you just can’t stand the heat. Otherwise, you may find that the American phrase he bought the farm, meaning a sudden end, may acquire a certain resonance.
And my thanks to Gordon Brewer for this political dissection.
It is the job of political interviewers to reveal the inconsistencies, evasions, factual inaccuracies and policy contradictions in politicians, a job that democratic accountability demands they do well. Like all dissections, it is not always a pretty sight, but nonetheless vital to a healthy democracy and a free press. Last night Gordon Brewer did it clinically and professionally, without giving way to either disgust or pity.
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This is verging on sympathy vote territory.
ReplyDeleteI think both Gray and Scott are now playing this card, and with some voters it will work, judging from recent tweets.
ReplyDeleteThere is also a sex difference in the way politicians are judged by voters, and polling confirms this.
Put it this way - I would rather have Gordon Brewer as First Minister than Tavish Scott, but many women would reverse that preference, if the polls are to be believed.
Such views are not politically correct, but psephologists will tstify to such a difference in perception.
I now await the flak ...
I think it was pointlessly provocative for GB to say that "nobody trusts the Lib Dems", and some of his other remarks just came across as mockery.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Tavish was fortunate that the tone of the interview was overly aggressive, as it distracted from the way the party's hypocrisy over Monklands A&E had been so clearly exposed a few minutes earlier. But the blame for that one lies mainly with George Lyon. Why the LDs keep giving prominent roles to such an obvious buffoon is one of Scottish politics' great mysteries.
At last Gordon Brewer has done what presumably he's paid to do - but don't bank on this being consistent when it comes to Labour and his continuous selection of Labourite panelists only too willing to give their own (biased) take on all things anti-SNP.
ReplyDeleteIt was an excruciating yet hilarious interview, the likes of which has not been seen since Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge (as I've said on my blog). Any small chance Tavish might have had of staying on as Scottish Lib Dem leader after the election is now well and truly gone. I just hope Mike "let's get ready to" Rumbles doesn't succeed him - he's the worst politician they have.
ReplyDeleteOuch! If only these inconsistencies were highlighted more often by our media, then perhaps our politicians would raise their game. As it is they know they can get away with any old nonsense without any real scrutiny. Thanks for posting the videos.
ReplyDeleteI have occasionally offered criticism of GB's interviewing style. I have never detected any bias.
ReplyDeleteIt is the job of the BBC, and Gordon Brewer to interview people reflecting all shades of political opinion. By and large they do this in Scotland. The misjudgments tend to be at the London/Westminster Village end, and it is more blinkers than bias.
To support a claim of bias demands evidence, facts, incidents, analysis. I do this at some length when I believe I have seen it, e.g in the Herald. You should do the same, and I have previously offered you some routes to do so on your blogs, guest articles for Bella Caledonia, Newsnet Scotland etc.
I don't intend to provide a platform here for unsupported allegations of bias against the BBC or anybody else for that matter. It doesn't help the nationalist cause - it simply makes nationalists look immature.
My comment above relates to barontorc's comment on Gordon Brewer
ReplyDeletePeter, fair enough if that's your view, but my description of regular panelists on Newsnight was pro-labour and I stick with that.
ReplyDeleteDid I say GB was biased? He did a good job with Tavish Scott - as you would expect of him.
Looks like we won't be talking soon. Too bad.
Post away, barontorc - comments happily accepted. And if you have hard facts on BBC bias, happy to post them too.
ReplyDeleteBut simple allegations of bias, without chapter and verse are, to my mind, non-productive.
Revisit the definition of stereotyping - only seeing negative examples that suit a particular case and being blind to all the positive examples.
I believe the BBC is a bastion of our democracy, even though it is the BRITSH Broadcasting Corporation.
And for the record, I don't know personally anyone who works in the BBC, and have no vested interests to declare, other than in free speech and good journalism.
Thanks for posting.
Peter
Thanks for posting the clips as I don't watch TV anymore. Re BBC it has now become like the banks too big to fail and as such complacency has set in. There is evidence on their bias but you are correct in not clogging your valuable blog going down that road.
ReplyDeleteMoridura: I suspect that women may see a child like, boyish innocence in Scott. He does come over as a rather gauche 6th former or maybe undergrad, and (particularly older) women may be charmed by this.
ReplyDeleteBrewer is cleverer, less vulnerable and certainly not in any way boyish. He may be less appealing to women, because some might say that as well as not being boyish, there is no rugged manliness. Neither I imagine is he likely to be thought particularly good looking.
Only a point of view, but it does seem to back what the pollsters say.
tris, I think you've hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting!
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ReplyDeleteBBC 'BIAS'
ReplyDeleteA Daily Record headline for the edification of those constantly accusing the BBC of anti-SNP bias -
"Beeb accused of 'outrageous bias" for inviting Alex Salmond to appear on Question Time"
In my lifetime, the BBC has been accused of every kind of bias imaginable, by every kind of group imaginable. To me, that is evidence that they get it right most of the time ...