Gair Rhydd - Question Time

The government this week refused to put forward a cabinet minister to appear on question time this week.

Instead they issued an ultimatum to question time, demanding Alastair Campbell be replaced by a member of Labours shadow cabinet. The BBC has responded to this be declaring that "It is for Question Time, not political parties, to make judgements about impartiality and to determine who is invited to appear in the interests of the audience."

In the week that the coalition government unveiled it's Queens Speech to the public, setting out their plans for the next year, it would have seemed an ideal week for the government to position a prominent MP on TV. Instead audiences were treated to Backbench Conservative MP John Redwood, who said that he was "very happy to defend the coalition government, to represent it", but left many wanting.

Alastair Campbell, a prominent Labour spin-doctor with a key importance in the 1997 general election as well as the recent TV debates, was quick to attack the government for what he described as a "decision to try to get me kicked off the panel...".

Beyond simple tit-for-tat disagreements between the parties, there is a larger debate here. In the increasingly tv-centric, PR-addicted political landscape (one which Alastair Campbell knows a lot about), there is a temptation for politicians to control their image and set the terms for their appearance. But the ability for question time to invite whoever they want to appear on the show is an essential aspect of our democracy.  

As the executive producer of question time, Gavin Allen stated "Parties are free to accept or reject those invitations but they do not have a right of veto over other panellists." If the BBC had bowed to the governments demands I believe that a dangerous precedent would have been set. We are lucky that the BBC operate openly and to the highest standards, and that people like Gavin Allen do not succumb to the wishes of politicians but instead look out for the public interest.