Sunday morning politics shows are a relatively recent import into this country from the United States. In Washington DC, Chuck Todd is the twelfth moderator of the venerable Meet the Press. The programme was launched on the radio in 1945 and then taken to NBC television in 1947, sponsored by General Foods. CBS caught up with Face the Nation in 1954. ABC was the laggard with This Week from 1981, still years before British broadcasters had a go. These programmes are variations of the same basic format. The day of rest is exploited as an opportunity for politicians to give longer interviews than their standard workaday lines-to-take, allowing them to be probed and discussed by journalists in a more considered way. I was an assistant producer and political reporter at TVam when David Frost launched the UK’s first Sunday show in 1983. I presented the eponymous Sunday with Adam Boulton on Sky News for 17 years until 2014. From next weekend, I’m returning to Sunday duty with Sunday Morning with Kate McCann and Adam Boulton from 10am until 1pm on Times Radio, just as Laura Kuenssberg takes the Frost baton from Andrew Marr on BBC1.
Michel Barnier as France’s PM: are they having us on?
Brits who view the appointment of Barnier as a wind-up are flattering themselves. The present crisis is all about France.