Last night was the first interview for Newsnight‘s new presenter, Evan Davis, who used to present the BBC’s Today programme. And his first subject was the Prime Minister. Davis has received some good reviews from the Guardian and the Telegraph for his debut, both praising the fact that he put David Cameron to a sort of “Conservative test” rather imaginatively.
He asked the PM three seemingly unrelated questions:
– Whether children should be taught metric or imperial measure (the PM chose the latter)
– What the PM would think if he saw two men kissing in a park (nothing)
– Whether a UK pharmaceutical company should better employ a good Briton or a better Latvian (he’d prefer to see a Briton get a job, but his answer was initially fuzzy on this)
This was Davis’ simple way of highlighting the dilemma for Cameron – he is a modern Conservative presiding over a party that is drifting increasingly to the right. Indeed, what is most telling in the exchange is Cameron’s frank admission of the Ukip problem:
I have a double battle on my hands – I have to win the blue/red fight but I also have to win back people in my own party.
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Here’s the interview:
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