Way back in June, Tim Farron said, in his Commons tribute to Charles Kennedy:
Charles was successful because he was himself. If any hon. Member is ever invited on to “Have I Got News For You”, my advice is, “Say no, unless you want to be made out to be a prat or unless you are Charles Kennedy.”
But a quick glance down his Twitter feed reveals that he’s going on the show himself, “in a couple of weeks.”
@meganrmcgowan yes I am.
— Tim Farron (@timfarron) November 17, 2015
A “couple of weeks” is when I’m down in London for a Federal Executive getting to grips with the Governance Review weekend.
I’m sure Tim will be great fun. He is not capable of being anyone other than himself and he’ll take the inevitable teasing in his stride. Now what would it be like if they had Wendy Smith from Prefab Sprout on the other team? When Tim was asked in Bournemouth which person he’d most like to meet, he said that he could say someone very political or a great historical figure, but, no, it would be Wendy. HIGNFY producers, don’t say you haven’t been told.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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10 Comments
A Labour MP then said “I have been on Have I got News For You and obviously I am not Charles Kennedy.”
It should be the perfect show for Tim Farron, he’s one of the few politicians with the ability to laugh at themselves and the public will like that. Honesty and likeability are very under rated strength in politics. I know a lot of people will say it’s all about the policies, but if the public don’t like or trust you it really doesn’t matter what you promise, the voters won’t vote for you.
Next week, according to here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06qqnhz Jo Brand’s the host and Josh Widdicombe the other panellist.
Charles Kennedy MP missed a train from the Scottish Highlands to federal conference. He was a hard act to follow, but Tim Farron MP had a go. We got a mixture of campaigning and humour, Just what was needed.
These engagements are probably made a long time in advance. I hope that Tim Farron reconsiders the wisdom of appearing on the programme. This is not a time for a jokey politician, not even one as personable as Tim.
https://jonathanfryer.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/tim-farron-and-the-hignfy-challenge/
Charles Kennedy was a panellist on HIGNFY, and later as chairman: “I’m in charge, Get used to it!”.
malc 20th Nov ’15 – 11:26pm…………….It should be the perfect show for Tim Farron, he’s one of the few politicians with the ability to laugh at themselves and the public will like that. Honesty and likeability are very under rated strength in politics. I know a lot of people will say it’s all about the policies, but if the public don’t like or trust you it really doesn’t matter what you promise, the voters won’t vote for you……….
With Jo Brand as host his ability to laugh at himself may well be ‘sorely tested’…..Trying to match wits with Merton/Hislop is a recipe for disaster; they are both masters of the quick ‘put down’…
Still he can’t do much worse than Clegg’s infamous EU debate and, who knows, he may well surprise us all….
I’ll be tuning in – I haven’t seen an episode in a while and it’ll be interesting seeing Farron in a jokey environment.
Jayne, hopefully by next Friday the news agenda will have moved on to more suitable topics for comedy, such as Osborne’s budget and Labour’s infight. If it hasn’t, then the BBC themselves will surely have to think hard about their own programming, and put Tim’s appearance back to a later date.
Jacob Rees-Mogg was a hoot this week. Whether he knew was was is a different matter! We tend to give all the comedy accolades in our party to Charles Kennedy. We should not forget the late Clement Freud. For a ‘ politician’ to be successful on this show they either have to have had a humour bypass (and be a stooge for Messrs Merton and Hislop) or not to take themselves seriously. Which tactics will Tim adopt?