Londoner’s Diary: Politicians ‘are fighting shy of big interviews’

THEY can still make or break careers, but politicians are less keen on big interviews than ever, says veteran documentary maker Michael Cockerell. “These days many of them are much warier about agreeing to appear in TV documentaries — fearing they won’t be given a fair hearing,” Cockerell, pictured with Boris Johnson, tells us as he publishes his book Unmasking Our Leaders.

He’s not the only one writing about political interviews right now. Rob Burley, a veteran ex-BBC producer who edited Marr and Politics Live, has just announced his book Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying To Me? It will cover 12 political interviews over a 25-year period.

Things are worse now, he tells us. He contrasts Margaret Thatcher’s willingness to do long TV interviews after her chancellor resigned with Boris Johnson. “We’re in a situation now where we have a PM who hid in the fridge during the last election.”

Pointing to Johnson also declining an interview with Andrew Neil, Burley added: “There’s a kind of contempt there.” Decline.

BEING the child of a famous chef is not easy. “They did feel like victims,” says Claudia Roden of her children. When they were growing up she would test out dishes on them for her classic Book of Middle Eastern food. “At one stage there was an apple filled with mincemeat and fried onions and pine nuts and they said, ‘can I not eat that?’” Instead, Roden tells Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, “they dreamt of fish fingers”. She did provide those, but appears to have drawn the line at spaghetti hoops out of a tin. Shame.

JODIE TURNER-SMITH hopes her casting as Anne Boleyn will change things permanently. “There’s a much larger audience who’s tired of seeing features with only white people,” the actress says. Turner-Smith starred as Anne Boleyn in the Channel 5 series, broadcast over the summer. She adds: “It’s necessary to continue to create in that way and I’m happy to be a part of this.” The ball is firmly in the court of the big studios.

JAMES BOND can rest easy. Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, gave him the official thumbs-up last night. “In terms of reputation he’s done… more good than harm,” Dearlove said at a How To Academy event. Dearlove explained that as spies (as opposed to case officers) are often volunteers, “there’s no question that the Bond myth has contributed to the attractiveness of British intelligence to people who want to volunteer”. He added that there is a “gap” between the reality and myth “which is not bridged in practice”. Spoilsport. Unless he means real spies have more fun?

SIR ROD STEWART performed with Imelda May at a carol service last night for music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins. Also at St Luke’s church in Chelsea were actors Alice Eve and Clarke Peters, as well as impressionist Rory Bremner. May confessed to us that the last time she was on stage with Sir Rod things got “beautifully messy”, but she says they’ve taken a turn for the wholesome: “We’ve gone from Ronnie Scott’s to church.”

AS journalists waited for Tory MPs outside a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee last night in Parliament, one Tory MP branded the crowd of reporters “vultures”. They didn’t have the last word. The Daily Mail’s John Stevens reports a quick-witted colleague returned fire: “That would imply dead meat.”

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LORD Denham died earlier this month aged 94 and lived a life from the pages of a novel. His colleague Lord Glenarthur writes in The House about Denham’s technique to persuade colleagues to vote his way. “He would say: ‘Would you like a glass of whisky?’. The answer was invariably ‘yes’.” And after their vote would change.