Watching brief - Amanda Platell predicts Charles Kennedy's future
Published 29 March 2004
Why frailty in the modern politician is unforgivable, why columnists must never leave a party at 1am, and why Sarah Montague won't be happy to feature on the Today website
It is probably a fact that those who know Charles Kennedy think him a thoroughly decent bloke. This explains why he has received, in general, such a generous and affectionate press despite his sweaty, dazed and faltering performance at the Liberal Democrats' spring conference.
It has brought out the best and the worst in Fleet Street.
The wonderfully dry - a feat, given the circumstances - Quentin Letts, writing in the Daily Mail, observed that when the sweating got really bad, he "finally . . . had to produce a white . . . handkerchief. 'Is he going to surrender?' I wondered." In your dreams, Quentin.
Tim Hames in the Times wondered whether this was all a dastardly devilish media strategy to get in the news - absent from the Budget, hardly there at his Southport conference speech. As Hames concluded, he wouldn't have written his column about Kennedy if he hadn't failed to turn up on Budget day for the most important set piece in the parliamentary calendar. His advice? "At every opportunity when he might be expected
to appear, he needs to avoid being present."
The most embarrassing piece of the week came in the Guardian the day after the perspiration performance, under the headline "Kennedy comes out in fighting form". Even the Today programme thought it was an attempt at irony. But no. Sarah Hall wrote: "Charles Kennedy took the first step yesterday towards allaying fears about his political appetite and stamina . . ." Anyone who had watched the gaunt, stumbling Kennedy would have concluded that appetite and stamina are two things this man most decidedly lacks right now.
And finally, a charitable view from Libby Purves in the Times. "Human flesh is frail, but in a modern politician frailty (and indeed humanity) are the unforgivable crimes."
My guess is that we have not seen the last of this episode from Charles Kennedy. I suspect he's in the process of doing a joint deal with GMTV and Hello! to tell all on the sofa: "My journey to hell and back" by Chas Kennedy.
Sarah Montague's agent has been telling anyone who will listen that her client's job as female anchor on Radio 4's Today programme is not threatened by the talented and popular Carolyn Quinn, who has stood in for (and above) her during her maternity leave.
If this is true, perhaps someone should tell the people who compile the excellent Today website. It features "The Blunder Clips - some of our less memorable moments". Of the ten items, complete with audio, three of the top four belong to Montague. The final fluff is entitled "Where am I?" and goes on: "It's not always easy to remember . . . Sarah forgets where she is." Wishful thinking by some, perhaps.
And Quinn? Not a single entry. She has slipped into her role on Today effortlessly, whereas Montague was still struggling with it. The situation raises the eternal dilemma of what to do when an employee is replaced temporarily, and their replacement is better at the job than they are. This is especially difficult when the employee is a woman on maternity leave and her job is, as it certainly should be, protected no matter what.
Montague needs to be given time, and plenty of it, when she returns from leave. But unless she can find another gear on the show, and put an end to the fumbling and that awful nervousness which makes us listeners at home anxious every time she conducts a difficult interview, there is no future for her as a presenter of the BBC's most prestigious news programme.
James Hardy, political editor of the Daily Mirror, has resigned from his £80,000-a-year job for a more humble and humbly paid position as a political correspondent for the BBC. So the race is on for what was once the most prized political editorship in Fleet Street. The highly experienced and well-connected Eben Black, recently departed of the Sunday Times, is interested. The Daily Express's truly excellent and so far underrated Patrick O'Flynn must be a favourite. He's young, hard-working, clever, and has not made the mistake of nailing his personal colours, politically speaking, to any mast.
Lesson one for columnists: never leave a party at 1am, go home and write your copy, as I did after the Press Awards dinner. As I was observing that it was one of the most amicable awards evenings I could remember, Jeremy Clarkson was attempting to punch out the Daily Mirror editor, Piers Morgan.
Lesson two for columnists: if you have very publicly punched, not once but three times, the editor of a national newspaper, use your own column to set the record straight, as Clarkson did in the Sunday Times a few days later. Part attack, part apology, part explanation, it was beautifully done, and restored my faith in the big man.
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
