Paddy O'Connell mounts his high horse and promptly falls off


Lord Adonis

Returning to this morning's Broadcasting House on Radio 4, I really do have to note this startling confrontation between presenter Paddy O'Connell and Leave Means Leave co-chairman John Longworth: 
John Longworth: I find this quite remarkable because Lord Adonis, of course, is a classic example of somebody's who's not been elected, has been appointed, doesn't represent anybody and is a classic of the Whitehall problem which is...
Paddy O'Connell: [interrupting] But he was a minister, he was elected, he was an MP.
John Longworth: Well....he has been in the past...yeah...
Paddy O'Connell: [interrupting] But unlike you and me he has been elected. 
John Longworth: He has been in the past...
Paddy O'Connell: [interrupting] That's a point of fact! He has been!
John Longworth: OK, OK, fair enough, but...but...
Paddy was very assertive there and temporarily put Mr Longworth off his stride.

But there's one major problem with his rant at Mr Longworth: He was wrong.

Lord Adonis has never been elected as an MP. He tried to become an MP but didn't succeed. The only time he's ever been elected was in 1987 when he was elected (for four years) for the North Ward on Oxford City Council. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2005, making it possible for him to become a government minister.  

Hopefully Paddy will start the New Year on next week's edition of Broadcasting House by publicly apologising to Mr Longworth and putting the record straight for Radio 4 listeners. 

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