Politicians often get accused of not answering questions but sometimes they fight back as Andy McDonald did on Friday.
The exchange took place on the BBC Newsnight programme during an interview with host Emma Barnett (EB). Part way into the interview, Barnett accused McDonald (AM) of ‘not answering my question’ line 03. This set off a fight for the floor and a struggle to find who was posing the right question.
BBC Newsnight 22/11/2019 Emma Barnett; Andy McDonald 01 AM: they would be absolutely devastated 02 if [Boris Johnson gets his way 03 EB: [you’re not answering my question 04 you’re answering the question 05 you set for [yourself I'm sorry 06 AM: [I AM answering my- 07 EB: you’re not answering the question because 08 if [you believe 09 AM: [no I am [answering the question 10 EB: [sorry I'll I’ll pose it again 11 AM: you just choose not to accept it 12 EB: →no no no no sorry 13 er [which part of 14 AM: [well pose it again 15 but [I will 16 EB: [sorry which part of you 17 slagging off Boris Johnson’s proposals
Line 12 is an interesting use of extra high tone: – →no no no no sorry’ – perhaps to signal incredulity by the interviewer.
