Interviewing an interviewer is never straightforward. When I asked Victoria Derbyshire, who has presented Newsnight since September last year, to nominate her best moments from the show so far, she responded: “I haven’t been there long you know, William. Bloody hell!” When I asked if she believed anyone took her less seriously after her 2020 appearance on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! she replied: “Why? Do you take me less seriously?” No, I said. “Good.” She gave an authoritative nod. I asked her about the reported “brain drain” at the BBC, following the departures of Emily Maitlis, Andrew Marr and others, and she arched an eyebrow. “Do you think there’s really been a brain drain?”
I met Derbyshire in a Caffé Nero next to Broadcasting House in London, on a wet Tuesday morning. We both arrived seven minutes early and Derbyshire, shaking off her black umbrella and shedding her leopard-print coat, found us armchairs at the back of the café. There was a queue for drinks so we held off ordering – though 30 minutes later, feeling slightly dazed by Derbyshire’s counter-attacks, I pointed out that the queue had shrunk. She insisted on paying but was taken aback by my order. “A chai latte?” she repeated in a la-di-da tone. “They might not do them.” They did. Derbyshire ordered tea.
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