But why did Sopel butt in just when it got interesting?
I wonder if I was the only person, watching Cameron wriggle and squirm this afternoon in the Commons about what he ‘achieved’ at the EU session yesterday, to spot how – the second a backbench MP mentioned “the German attempt to establish an EU commissioner in Athens” – the BBCNews anchor Jon Sopel abruptly cut short the live broadcast and began to blather about something else.
It was one of those moments when – even though one suspects there probably isn’t a planned conspiracy to keep the Brits unaware of Merkel’s developing madness – it was hard not to blink in disbelief. The equivalent would’ve been ITV cutting away from a football broadcast for the ads just as a penalty was about to be taken.
Anyway, for once it seemed to me that Cameron’s smarm didn’t wash – if smarm washes at all in the real world. Whereas Tory backbenchers usually try to weedle a straight answer out of Dave in these circumstances, my overall impression was that – having decided such a mission was doomed to failure – some of them were trying to wind him up. There was, for example, a distinct lack of either respect or politesse in some of the questions emanating from behind the Prime Minister.
All that said, I won’t hold my breath waiting for a Tory rebellion. The truth is that, if the Tory Right really was principled, it would’ve hijacked UKIP long ago.
The Slog 