Jeremy Paxman - In the Know

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Jeremy Paxman is a national figure, best selling author and the journalist who leads BBC’s flagship news programme, ‘Newsnight’.

Millions will remember his famous pre-election interview with Michael Howard [the then Home Secretary] when he asked the same question 14 times, about Derek Lewis, the head of the Prison Service, and whether Howard overruled him in the sacking of a prison governor. The interview went something like this: 

Jeremy Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him?
Michael Howard: I was not entitled to instruct Derek Lewis and I did not instruct him
Jeremy Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him?
Michael Howard: I did not overrule Derek Lewis
Jeremy Paxman: Did you threaten to overrule him?

Aninha Capaldi talks to Jeremy Paxman the renowned television journalist in the first of  a new series of interviews interview.

The media called it ‘pure genius’ and it is said that viewers turn on to watch him as much as his guests on BBC’s ‘Newsnight’.  Former Tory leader, William Hague, refused to be interviewed by Paxman for a long period, and American politician, Henry Kissinger, walked out of his interview while on air. Paxman has been the celebrated anchorman for ‘Newsnight’ since 1990. In 1979, he became areporter on Panorama where his assignments took him around the world. He is the author of several best sellers and his latest book, ‘The Political Animal, An Anatomy’, was recently published by Michael Joseph. He recently agreed to a rare interview with Just Right’s Aninha Capaldi.

Aninha Capaldi: Most of our readers will know you from your unrelenting interrogations of ‘high brow’ politicians. Could you tell us how you got into broadcasting?

Jeremy Paxton: I don’t know that I’d call them all ‘high-brow’! But to get to the point, I got started in journalism on a training course more years ago than I care to remember. Looking back on your life you can see a pattern, but you’re not necessarily aware of it at the time. I have always loved words, always been a bit difficult, and always been curious about how the world works. I spent several years as a reporter, first in Northern Ireland during the "Troubles", and then travelling here and there as a "fireman" or on investigations. Many people were much better at it then me. I suppose I’ve been lucky.

Aninha Capaldi: How do you feel your work in this area has affected your view of the ability of politicians to change the world in which we live, especially in the area of human rights?

Jeremy Paxman: Politicians have much less ability to change the world than they claim – or than they would like us to believe. The human rights issue is a case in point. All decent people believe in the right of a people to determine its own fate, based on the wishes of the majority. But foreign governments are pretty impotent when it comes to trying to impose their will. They’d probably be decried as ‘imperialists’ if they tried to do so. But the nature of some of our so-called ‘allies’ can turn the stomach. I have always found it offensive that so much of the west seems to accept that some countries are ‘not ready’ for true democracy.

Aninha Capaldi: In your book ‘The English’ you discuss the psyche of English people and the effect that has had on our history. How would you say this has effected our outlook on the plight of people in other nations and whether we feel motivated to help them?

Jeremy Paxman: I like to think that the English are a decent people.  We have our hypocrisies and our  unpleasant characteristics, too. But, on the whole, I think we are – or ought to be – on the side of the good guys.

Aninha Capaldi: Are the human rights abuses, in countries such as Burma, Zimbabwe and the Holy Land (all having been under British rule) a consequence of the British Colonial legacy?

Jeremy Paxman: Are they in America? Or Australia?

Aninha Capaldi: What motivated you to go and work/help in El Salvador, what kind of human rights abuses did you find there?

Jeremy Paxman: I was there as a journalist: to be quite honest, the good thing from a journalistic point of view was that the issues in Central America were pretty clear-cut. You knew who the good guys were, and who were the bad guys. I found it traumatic, frightening and inspiring. The most impressive people I think I’ve ever met were the human rights promoters there. Life is rarely so unambiguous.

Aninha Capaldi: "20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the worlds goods" (1999 Human development report) To what extent do you feel that the causes of poverty are due to the capitalist model of economics? What alternatives are there?

Jeremy Paxman: If this figure is accurate – and it sounds believable – then I think we ought to begin thinking through the implications. If indeed it is the consequence of what you call ‘capitalist economics’ then we ought ask what is the alternative? Half of Europe lived and suffered through the supposed alternative. It was tried elsewhere, in the developing world, and failed. I see no viable other method right now. What we need to do is to find a way of making capitalism more philanthropic. That involves persuading people that it matters as much that a child is starving in Angola or Sao Paolo as that their own child is hungry. It demands an enormous effort of imagination and kindness.

Aninha Capaldi: A lot of people are calling for reforms of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) trade rules so they are fairer for poor countries with weaker economies.  Do you think the WTO is a main contributor to the scale of poverty in the world or are they being made into a scapegoat?

Jeremy Paxman: I think we’re stuck with some mechanism for trying to regulate world trade. The problem is to make it fairer.

Aninha Capaldi: Have you ever felt inspired to go into front line politics and tackle these issues yourself?

Jeremy Paxman: Occasionally. Then I sober up.

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