Looking at the recent EU and UK council elections, we could analyse who had the clearest message and most effective delivery – but it’s much more fun to look at the blunders.

Even though most politicians are old hands at dealing with the media, they still get it wrong with alarming regularity.

Two interviews stand out for me – with clear lessons for how to do better.

One is Nigel Farage’s debacle on LBC Radio, which was also filmed. Watch particularly from 11 minutes in. The interview makes fascinating viewing in the sheer awfulness of Farage’s comments.

Interestingly, the main problem was the ludicrous comments he’d made before it – about not wanting to live next to Romanians and feeling uncomfortable hearing foreign languages on British trains.

But while the main damage had been done, he’d have been far better in this interview to have held up his hands and retracted his comments, rather than keep digging with a farcical defence.

The other striking interview was also on the radio – Ed Miliband on BBC Wiltshire.

The interviewer asks him “What do you make of Jim Grant?” (the leader of the Swindon Labour group). It’s clear Miliband has no idea who Grant is, but he tries to bluff his way through.

First he attempts to side-step the question by talking about Labour members in general. He’s then forced to confess he doesn’t know who Grant is – but, incredibly, goes on to guess he’s Swindon’s Council leader (he is not – he leads the opposition) and to claim that he knows “he’s doing a good job – Jim is, and that is the case”!

It would always be awkward for him not to know one of his local party leaders at election time, but the real disaster came from his bungled attempt to bluff.

There’s a common lesson from both interviews: when you’re in a hole – particularly on TV and radio – honesty rather than bullshit is the only way out.

Interestingly, while he’s having a bad time of his own post-election, one politician who came out well from the second interview was Nick Clegg. When asked to comment on it, he said he had a “sneaking sympathy” for Miliband and that it was “a bit harsh” to expect him to know the names of everyone in his party.

How refreshing to see a politician pass up an opportunity to stick the knife into a rival.

Or was he just foresighted enough to try buying some goodwill for the trouble he now finds himself in?

 

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