We are trying really, really, hard not to write any blogs which analyse the media interviews given by politicians during the run up to the general election.
We realise it is a divisive subject and also that we are all just a bit fed up with elections in general.
We have held our tongue so far despite the Prime Minister repeatedly ignoring questions and painfully repeating ‘strong and stable’ in response to just about everything and the Liberal Democrat leader's clear difficulty in answering questions about some of his personal views.
But we heard an interview this morning which was so excruciating and toe-curlingly painful we had to break our self-imposed ban. It is also an interview which carries a crucial media training lesson. In fact it was a case study in how not to prepare for a radio interview.
It took place on LBC this morning (2/5) when Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott spoke to Nick Ferrari to announce Labour’s new plan for police and crime and in particular a pledge to put 10,000 more police officers on the street.
This was potentially a positive announcement until Mr Ferrari started to probe the figures.
Asked how much the new police officers would cost, Ms Abbott replied: “Well, erm… if we recruit the 10,000 policemen and women over a four-year period, we believe it will be about £300,000’.
Presenter Mr Ferrari replied: “£300,000 for 10,000 police officers? What are you paying them?”
After an awkward gap, where Ms Abbott tried to fill the void by saying ‘they will cost’ repeatedly, she eventually revealed it would cost £80 million.
When Mr Ferrari suggested this would mean the officers would be paid an annual salary of £8,000, listeners could hear some frantic paper turning, before Ms Abbott insisted the policy had been properly thought-through.
Irrespective of your political views - even the Labour supporting Daily Mirror has been critical - there is no denying this was a messy, uncomfortable performance which highlighted once again just how important it is to be fully prepared for media interviews.
How to not prepare for a radio interview) 'Erm, they will cost': Abbott's car-crash election interview https://t.co/RoSAN8s222
— Kevin O'Sullivan (@TVKev) May 2, 2017
Car crash interview overshadows Labour's big police policy announcement https://t.co/p1qcsCvA8P
— James Randerson (@james_randerson) May 2, 2017
Diane Abbott forgot how much Labour's police plan will cost in an excruciating car-crash interviewhttps://t.co/144Hbuar79 pic.twitter.com/4uQueTIERc
— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) May 2, 2017
On the Natalie Bennett scale, today's Diane Abbott interview was well over 7 https://t.co/F8DuKxbLr4
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) May 2, 2017
It was also very reminiscent of an interview Mr Ferrari carried out with the then Green Party leader Nathalie Bennett during the campaign for the last general election, where she struggled to answer basic questions about the figures behind here affordable housing policy. Ms Bennett later suggested she had suffered from 'mental brain fade'. Perhaps the same explanation could be used here.
On our media training courses we always stress the importance of preparation. It is vital for any media interview and that prep work should involve you know what to expect from the journalist you will be speaking to.
As well as making sure you know the message you want to get across, part of this preparation should involve anticipating and planning for the difficult questions you are likely to be asked – and for a politician, questions on how new policies would be funded are pretty fundamental.
This is unlikely to be the last disastrous interview of the election campaign. Only time will tell if we can avoid writing about any more of them.
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