Has Diane Abbott been trying to give the impression that she, rather than Andrew Neil, has been the presenter of BBC1 late night politics discussion show This Week all these years?
In an interview with Nigeria’s Guardian published on 30 June, the Hackney MP was asked:
Abbott answered: “Yes, before I became MP, I worked in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and I also did some political communication. I have done a lot of media work, particularly for a period of 12 years. I had my political discussion show once a week, which was quite interesting because it was quite popular.”
My political discussion show?
What about Andrew Neil? What about Michael Portillo?
It is almost as though Abbott thought nobody in the UK was ever going to read The Guardian, and took her chance to inflate her role as a mere co-pundit on the programme. That said, she has been paid up to £869 per show, and has earned about £200,000 in total thanks to This Week. Some full-time presenters would be perfectly happy with that sort of money.
The interviewer went on:
Abbott replied: “Everybody hates journalists, or let me say politicians are very upset with journalists when their private lives are intruded. But when politicians get involved in corruption and crimes, for me that is a big issue. I think journalists in this modern age are important in keeping politics free of corruption because publicity is the best disinfectant.”
Heat Street couldn’t agree more.