Evan Davis really gave Chuka Umunna a tough going-over on this morning’s Today programme, if by tough going-over one imagines being soothed with the soft gentle strokes of giant cotton wool balls for ten minutes. Davis’s line was basically, “You get on with it and I’ll chip in every now and again to concur with everything you’re saying and help clarify the message.” When they’d finished agreeing about executive pay, Davis then asked Umunna (adviser: Diane Coyle, vice chair BBC Trust, wife of BBC tech correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones) why poor Ed Miliband is getting such a tough time when it seems clear that he’s actually pretty awesome:
Just before we finish I do want to ask you about the leadership. It’s sort of been in the news this week, this feeling that it’s been a difficult week for Ed Miliband – he’s given an interview in The Guardian this morning. Why do you think it is, because he’s given a fairly clear analysis of the country very much along the lines of the one you’ve talked about – about irresponsible capitalism that needs dealing with – why do you think it is that question marks have been raised about him given the clarity of his message?
Amazing as it seems, poor Chuka somehow managed to survive that blistering line of attack.