Seconds out
I think the fight is now over. A pity. I really don’t know who won, but there was no knockout, not even of the technical variety. Yesterday, for some inexplicable reason, the Tories decided that the extra-terrestrial John Redwood should don the Eurosceptic gloves and enter the ring for a two five minute, bare-knuckle, bout with that “gadfly” Robert Kilroy-Silk. They limbered up on Channel 4 with Jon Snow as the referee. I suspect, as the watershed had not been reached, the producers felt there would be fewer complaints if they kept the protagonists apart. ET was in a studio some miles away from the gadfly. Nevertheless, like two boxers at the peak of fitness, they were both determined to use all their verbal blows. Most of them landed. Their seconds and indeed their spouses anxiously examined their abdominal protectors when the bell eventually rang to mark out the end of the third minute. I suspect this equipment resembled the dented sample pushed in front of Harry Carpenter’s face by a boxer, whose name I cannot recall, to demonstrate just how many punches his opponent had landed “below” the belt. The second round resumed after their handlers had had a couple of hours to patch them up. This time Newsnight’s Gavin Esler donned the striped referee’s shirt. By 10.30, both protagonists were allowed to be in the same studio, though sensibly a large, sturdy table separated them. They reprised, almost blow for blow, the first round. At the end of the bout it was difficult detect any policy differences. Redwood looked as embarrassed as he did trying to sing Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, at the Welsh Tory Conference, and Robert’s extraordinary orange complexion was untroubled by a single bead of sweat. t
posted by Tony @ Thursday, June 03, 2004
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