Did the major party leaders impress these young TV reporters?
| Who’d have thought that Anne Widdecombe would turn out be a nice lady with a sense of humour? |
It's not every week you get to grill the three major party leaders, or see your reports make headlines on a major television station, but this is exactly what happened when we became reporters for Sky's election news team - an assignment that was to throw up a few surprises.
For instance, who'd have thought that shadow home secretary Anne Widdecombe - a woman often portrayed in the media as Cruella DeVil's plumper sister - would turn out be a nice lady with a sense of humour.
Meanwhile some of our team thought Lib Dem leader, Charles Kennedy was "a little patronising", Tory leader William Hague, found himself "under pressure", while incumbent PM Tony Blair was a "natural with children."
Along with interviewing Dorcas Fayemi, the aunty of murdered schoolboy Damiola Taylor and Anne Widdecombe on crime issues, we also grilled the three main political leaders on various topics including, Internet safety for children and the environment.
| | What Hague said | | On John Townend "I want everyone else to know that if they say things like that, I will force them to apologise and withdraw or kick them out of the party. And so I think that, in getting it straight with him, we'll get it straight for anybody else. Because if they say things that are unacceptable, then that is what we will do. We will kick them out of force them to retract. " | | On child curfew laws "I think we've got to come up with some better ideas. It's a familiar problem with the Labour Party that they announce things, and they sound good, and they do it in a great fanfare of publicity, and then nothing actually happens." | | On teacher's workloads "When I go into a school they (teachers) say 'we think you lot were bad Mr Hague, but look at this lot." | | On his vision "I think the first Asian or black party leader will be a Conservative. Not quite yet but I think that that will happen." | | | | What Blair said | | On teacher shortages "I think some of these problems have been exaggerated. You get cases where people tell you there's a teacher shortage, and it turns out the teachers have been ill, and the headteacher hasn't made the right preparations for that and so on." | | On the morning-after pill for under 16's "There are very difficult moral issues that arise. With something like the morning after pill is, you're constantly in this bind where of course you would prefer that children didn't have irresponsible sexual relations. But you've also got to deal with the reality that that will happen." | |
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However our biggest scoop came after we questioned the Tory leader on the then topical issue of that week - the damaging race row that recently engulfed his party.
Mongrel
It began when retiring Tory MP John Townend, made comments about Britain becoming a "mongrel nation". Mr Hague found himself under pressure to make Mr Townend apologise or even boot him out of the party.
On what was a tense day for Mr Hague we waited for our interview and watched from a window at Tory headquarters as he was questioned by awaiting journalists who had gathered outside. That morning he announced to a hungry press pack that he had forced Mr Townend to apologise.
As Mr Hague returned from his public grilling downstairs to face another, we asked him if he thought there was a general underlying feeling of racism in his party.
He replied: "I think it's important to realise that this is not what the Conservative Party is like."
He then told us how important an issue he considered ethnic minority representation in his party and how he had just returned from a visit to Bradford were many of Tory candidates are Asian.
Mr Hague continued: "That's the future of the Conservative Party as I see it. Welcoming people from all communities, and where anybody takes a different view, I will say, 'retract it or you're out.'"
Part of our exclusive interview made that day's lead item on Sky's evening news. Of course we were all excited. It was a real buzz watching but also slightly weird seeing ourselves on television.
Reporter Danyel Edwards, 14, had this to say about the Tory leader's performance. "Mr Hague handled the situation well but his answer was a little vague", she said.
Fellow inquisitor, Tinu Adeniji-Adele, 18 agreed: "He was a under a bit of pressure in the heat of what was happening. I think he was a little shocked that we kept going on about John Townend."
Daniel Cohen, 12, thought this of Hague's handling of the Townend affair: "Just because you're not saying racist remarks doesn't mean you're not thinking them. And sure, he's not going to say it again, he's not that stupid, but the potential is always there. And that's not dealing with it. You can still think it and that's the same thing effectively."
Some weeks earlier and not all of us thought our interview with Lib Dem leader, Charles Kennedy fared so well. Said Danyel. "He was nice but we didn't know whether to believe him or not. Had interesting ideas, he cracked some jokes but was a little patronising. I don't think he would have treated an adult journalist in this way."
Jealous
Up until that point we'd been disappointed that Tony Blair's press office had declined our requests for an interview. But he must have been jealous of all the attention Hague was getting because we were soon on our way to Number 10.
 The team interviewed Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the garden at Downing Street | |
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The interview took place in the garden where, mid-interview, we offered refreshments by an over-eager aide who may have been watching too much of Father Ted's Mrs Doyle. But apart from a potential disaster involving tea and thousands of pounds worth of equipment, the general impression of Tony Blair was favourable.
"Blair was very relaxed and he didn't try to be over-nice because we're children", said Benjamina Avro-Owiriwa, 13.
Ben Baginsky, 15, gave this overall assessment of the meetings. "William Hague gave us a really good interview. I think it reflects where they are, kind of; the Liberal Democrat leader was pretty bad, the Conservative party leader was kind of in the middle, and Tony Blair was the best. I think that's why they're in that order politically."
But what else was gained from the experience? "I learnt that you don't know whether politicians are telling the truth or not," said Danyel.
"I've learnt that politicians aren't how they seem in the media," concluded a slightly cynical Tinu. "They're also really good at not answering questions directly. They make you feel as if they've answered them, but when you think about it afterwards, you're like, 'hold on, he didn't answer my question.' It's annoying but you have to rate them for being able to do this. It's a real skill"
About the team
This article was produced by Tinu Adeniji-Adele, 17, Ben Baginsky, 15, Benjamina Avro-Owiriwa, 13, Danyel Edwards, 14, Zak Garner-Purkis, 13 and Daniel Cohen, 12. It was published as part of Teen Talk, the Children's Express page in New Nation.
Read the transcripts of the Sky reports...
Future Voters: Crime
Future Voters: The Internet
Future Voters: Global Warming
Future Voters: Teacher Shortages
