Murnaghan 23.03.14 Interview with Nick Ferrari, LBC Presenter on Clegg/Farage debate
ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS
COLIN BRAZIER: Now as political punch up’s go, it could be quite a fight on Wednesday night, the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg will face UKIP leader, Nigel Farage for a head to head debate about the future of the European Union. I’m joined now by the man who brought them together and who will host this week’s debate, LBC presenter Nick Ferrari and a regular here. Nick, a very good morning to you and well done for pulling it off. How hard was it?
NICK FERRARI: Thank you. Actually it wasn’t that hard, I have to say it was Nick Clegg that went for it straight away, he actually threw down the gauntlet, he appears on the LBC show every week. Nigel Farage is about every other week, every third week and credit to him, he picked it up straight away. I was fascinated that your colleague Adam Boulton has written in the Sunday Times today that really this is a win-win for both of them, they both need a bit of help. Well you could say that perhaps Farage is doing well but he’s actually now in the Big Four isn’t he?
CB: Well if you look at today’s polls …
NICK FERRARI: Yes, I have seen them, I saw them last night and this morning.
CB: There is Nigel Farage on 15%, Nick Clegg on 9%, one puts them slightly closer together but it is extraordinary.
NICK FERRARI: It is incredible and I think there is also the argument that if you look at the other three parties, they have slightly nuanced their appeal as regards Europe or their message according to what UKIP is saying and again referring to somebody else, I thought Patrick Wintour in the Guardian yesterday put it absolutely brilliantly, that at last Nigel Farage has actually got to the front door of the House. We’ll see on Wednesday, we’ll hear on LBC and we’ll see on Sky News, whether they actually invite him in to the living room, this is his big chance.
CB: As an exercise in democracy, the danger is these things become a slanging match, there’s lots of heat and not a lot of light and we just heard, there was Mark Field the Tory MP meekly trying to gently urge people on the back benches of the Tory party that actually things like immigration and Europe are rather more nuanced and complicated than sometimes we give them credit for.
NICK FERRARI: You know I’m intrigued and I’ve been playing both scenarios through my mind, it’s interesting that you say that, and I think I probably come down more on like the Prime Ministerial debates at the last election where in fact if you recall they didn’t really get into the personal side. Although they often … you’ve got to be honest, if you go for the put down, if you go for the pithy one liner, you'll probably … Farage will be quite good at that, the man in the pub, the quick one liner, he’d be very good but does he really want to do that? There’s a danger then that you could come off as not serious enough. Then if you look at the one that’s probably got more debating skills, well you are up against the Deputy Prime Minister so it is an extraordinary balance and it really will be fascinating to see which strengths they play to.
CB: What are the mechanics of it? How do you do it? You mentioned the Prime Ministerial debates, the rubric there was very strong wasn’t it, you must not do this and you must look to this camera, blah-blah-blah, how are you going to do it?
NICK FERRARI: There are very few must not’s, Colin. The only one is I mustn’t fall over the furniture really, that’s all or I must turn up. No, it’s going to be much more lively. We have to of course have a fairly assessed panel of people who ask the questions because that’s only fair. There will be anything up to about ten questions, they have no sight of what those questions will be so somebody asks a question, they each have a minute – and it will be a tight minute – to respond and then there will be around three or four minutes of biff and bat between the two. That’s it, on it goes, questions from the floor, they don’t know what they are, bring it on.
CB: And in terms of the fact that there is just the two of them, neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband, how do you answer the charge that without the other two it’s meaningless?
NICK FERRARI: Oh I don't think it’s meaningless at all. Listen, the great British public have wanted to have their say about Europe since about 1975 which was the last time they were actually consulted on it. This is the argument they have been waiting for, for forty years. I’ll say again, UKIP has totally changed the whole stance in all of this, it would have been great to have the other two, they’ve chosen not to but what you do have is the clear division, as Nick Clegg himself says, his is the party of being in. Well we all know what Mr Farage is, these are the two main protagonists, let’s have them.
CB: Nick Clegg is kind of on home ground isn’t he? I know you say Nigel Farage is a regular visitor to your radio station but Nick Clegg, there he is with his Thursday morning piece. People did raise eyebrows at first didn’t they, this is demeaning the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, he’s got a show on a commercial radio station.
NICK FERRARI: Raised some eyebrows? I think they said he should go off and have a health check, I think they thought he had gone completely bonkers. He’s been running that for what, fifteen months …
CB: Does he run it?
NICK FERRARI: Well yes, he takes the calls, he has no sight of what’s happening. I’m there and I sort of facilitate and if I feel that he hasn’t answered it, maybe I’ll say well hang on, the caller did ask you about XY and Z, so yes, he’s very much at the helm. I think he’s done fantastically and if you go back to those debates, the Prime Ministerial debates, I don't know what you feel or what your viewers think but he certainly aced two of those didn’t he, if not perhaps …
CB: That was his great launch pad.
NICK FERRARI: Oh superb.
CB: And it’s all been downhill ever since some would say.
NICK FERRARI: Some would say, remember he is a broadcasting colleague of mine, you won’t get me on that. So he’s very … he’s had a tremendous, on the radio he’s had people ripping up their membership cards, he’s been asked if he wears a onesie …
CB: It’s great media training actually.
NICK FERRARI: Oh phenomenal. He’s been asked questions by a young mum who’s children are screaming in the background, he has had everything and I have to say that credit to him every time, whatever comes his way he’s up for it.
CB: Will Wednesday’s debate rate? Obviously we hope so because we’re broadcasting it but will it be a ratings booster? Will people tune in?
NICK FERRARI: Look, it’s not going to be Coronation Street or something like that, I’ll be absolutely honest with you but for anybody who is the remotely bit interested in exactly where British politics is going, the pressure points of Europe – and I know you guys at Sky News have shown us that Europe doesn’t normally feature in the top five, I understand that but every time you get any of the stories about prisoners voting or whatever, then it becomes so potent so yes, I think it’s going to do very, very well for both of us, for LBC and Sky, which is great.
CB: Okay, Nick Ferrari who has just described himself as Nick Clegg’s facilitator, what a thing! Thanks very much Nick. You can see live coverage of Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg facing off here on Sky News, as you can see, live coverage from 6pm Wednesday 26th March.
