Andrew Marr: The Cuddly Inquisition

Andrew Marr isn't an interviewer; he's a political masseuse. The pain he offers politicians is good, cathartic pain: nothing but an opportunity for David Cameron or Tony Blair to practice their earnest face after being asked 'difficult' questions. When talking about the Tory plans to 'reform' the NHS – i.e. open it up to the market – Marr put it to David Cameron that many people oppose this, and then asked this stunner of a question: 'Are you completely confident that this is the right thing to do?'

You can image how David Cameron squirmed. He must have thought: Better not let this question trip me up; someone might later prove that my facts are wrong or... OH WAIT! Confidence? You mean that subjective, unmeasurable quality? Yeah, sure, why not? Tons of confidence, Andrew. No worries. Same time next week, yeah?

That isn't journalism. I could personally be 'completely confident' that if I jumped off the top of my building a portal would open up beneath me and take me to Disney Land. Confidence doesn't make something a good idea, and it certainly isn't the thing we should be interrogating about someone like David Cameron. I doubt a lack of confidence will ever be an issue with him, and that in itself is what will need challenging as he attempts to ram through unpopular policies.

This lack of interrogative rigour is, of course, the reason that Marr gets all the high profile politicians, and Marr himself knows this full well. There's a great interview between him and Chomsky when Chomsky tells Marr that he's actually upholding the very systems of power he pretends to challenge in his interviews, because the challenges always remain within the script sanctioned by power. If the challenges had deviated from the script, Marr would have got nowhere in journalism.

And look where Marr is now... He really took Chomsky's words on board; but not in the way Chomsky probably would have liked.