Paxman destroying Chloe Smith..hilarious and cringeworthy!

[MOR8A]

Chloe Smith crumbles on Paxman's taxing questions (26Jun12) - YouTube

 

[davidjpowell]

Arrogant man. Would he have done that with a bloke? found it uncomfortable to watch at the beginning - he was bullying.

Would we have preferred to have the fuel increase?

 

[renault12ts]

+1...he is an arrogant bully...ask Jeremy Vine.

 

[grober]

A Sarah Palin moment I think. [YOUTUBE]nokTjEdaUGg&feature=relmfu[/YOUTUBE]

 

[davethemus]

I think it tells you more about the quality of up and coming politicians. There's a distinct lack of 'life experience' in the cabinet and shadow cabinet.

I've always quite enjoyed watching Paxman despite him being an arrogant bully. You have to remeber that this women is helping to run the country, If she can't deal with a guy like Paxman then it shows you how lightweight she is.

Do you think he would have got away with speaking to Nigel Farage, Charles Kennedy or George Galloway like that? The reason is that they have had some proper life experience, they haven't just worked there way up the political system.

 

[Scott_F]

Arrogant man. Would he have done that with a bloke? found it uncomfortable to watch at the beginning - he was bullying.

Paxman would have done it to a bloke. Admittedly Michael Howard was better equipped to handle the situation.
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[st4]

Ciaran, are you saying a man should be questioned like this and a woman not? Equal opertunities these days innit

I think Paxman would be like this regardless of gender/age etc to his interviewee.

 

[renault12ts]

Ciaran, are you saying a man should be questioned like this and a woman not? Equal opertunities these days innit

I think Paxman would be like this regardless of gender/age etc to his interviewee.

I'm not sure I mentioned gender Steve.

 

[davidjpowell]

Ciaran, are you saying a man should be questioned like this and a woman not? Equal opertunities these days innit

I think Paxman would be like this regardless of gender/age etc to his interviewee.

I don't have a problem with the questioning. I did think the body language was more invasive and intimidating than with the 2nd clip.

Smaller desk I noticed so closer to him.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Although I'd read about the interview and seen some clips, this is the first time I'd actually seen the whole thing. I actually think she held her ground fairly well.

Bullying is far too strong a word - Paxman's well-practiced technique is to harrangue his interviewees in an attempt to extract the answer (which he already knows) to a very specific question, and as things unfold the importance of that question tends to become subordinate to the thrill of the chase. Ministers know what they're letting themselves in for, and they go well-prepared to stonewall as far as possible while getting across the official line. I don't this Ms Smith gave too much away here and I didn't see her crumble, although quite frankly it speaks volumes that she was put forward for the interview in the first place.

Nevertheless, I'm sure she sees it as a feather in her cap. If she plans to progress within government, there'll be many more to come...

 

[markjay]

Paxman asked Tony Blair if he and President Bush prayed together.


Some will say it was a legitimate question given that the country was about to go to war at the time, which has been called a 'crusade'.. but I was not impressed with this question.

(incidentally, Blair replied simply 'no we don't pray together')

 

[MOCAŠ]

One aspect Paxman failed to explore directly was the fact that this decision came within a day or two of Ed Milliband calling for the Olympics underspend to be used for just this purpose (although he touched on it by trying to get Ms Smith to specify where the funding was coming from). This probably points to is a leak in the Cabinet Office, with someone passing details of the decision to the Opposition so that they could claim that they are setting the Government's agenda. It seems the announcement of the decision was then brought forward in order to take the wind out of Milliband's sails. Perhaps they should send Paxman on a mole hunt instead...

 

[Pringles]

She struggled a bit but Paxman really is horrible and was probably bullied mercilessly at school. Bound to drive a BMW.

 

[Scott_F]

One aspect Paxman failed to explore directly was the fact that this decision came within a day or two of Ed Milliband calling for the Olympics underspend to be used for just this purpose (although he touched on it by trying to get Ms Smith to specify where the funding was coming from). This probably points to is a leak in the Cabinet Office, with someone passing details of the decision to the Opposition so that they could claim that they are setting the Government's agenda. It seems the announcement of the decision was then brought forward in order to take the wind out of Milliband's sails. Perhaps they should send Paxman on a mole hunt instead...

There is no Olympic underspend. The massive overspend just isn't as great as was predicted.

 

[Scott_F]

Paxman asked Tony Blair if he and President Bush prayed together.


Some will say it was a legitimate question given that the country was about to go to war at the time, which has been called a 'crusade'.. but I was not impressed with this question.

(incidentally, Blair replied simply 'no we don't pray together')

Never mind the question, I wasn't impressed by the 'crusade'.

 

[DSM10000]

Paxman is rapidly losing his remaining credibility as a skilled interviewer as he relies far to heavily on his previous reputation and intimidation tactics to achieve his results rather than intellectual lines of questioning.

I though Ms Smith far from "crumbled", she maintained a dignified and consistent line of answers. I do however think that putting her in this position showed a serious lack of judgment on behalf of the Treasury and not a little cowardice in keeping some of their big guns safely shielded.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

The big problem with politicians of all parties is that most of them are 'career politicians', evolved from 'SPADS'. I would love to see some sort of criteria where you have to have been self employed/employed in the chosen area of your politics, ie the chancellor should have years of experience in economics etc etc

Paxman is asking the questions that most people want to know, Chloe Smith just kept spouting pre-programmed rhetoric, she almost sounded robotic.

 

[MOCAŠ]

The big problem with politicians of all parties is that most of them are 'career politicians', evolved from 'SPADS'. I would love to see some sort of criteria where you have to have been self employed/employed in the chosen area of your politics, ie the chancellor should have years of experience in economics etc etc

That's what advisors are for. Ministers essentially need to be decision makers and policy formers, and they need to be versatile enough to pick up virtually any brief handed to them.

Paxman is asking the questions that most people want to know, Chloe Smith just kept spouting pre-programmed rhetoric, she almost sounded robotic.

She was doing what she was trained to do. I doubt that most people were interested in when she found out about the decision - that was clearly a question he'd been hoping to ask the Transport Secretary in order to catch his out.

 

[Dryce]

Chloe Smith crumbles on Paxman's taxing questions (26Jun12) - YouTube

I found it pitiful - from both sides.

The whole Newsnight segment on this duty freeze was very poor. They were more interested in the politics than the actual economics.

I came away from the TV set really angry with Newsnight - they didn't serve the viewer and they were scoring points for themselves.

 

[st4]

I'm not sure I mentioned gender Steve.

I probably should have quoted David,

I don't think it was bullying at all. Sorry.