The biblically derived old saw about the sins of the father being visited on the son gets turned on its head in memorable fashion by Jonathan Healy, guest host of The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk, weekdays), when he gets a paternal perspective on the terminal throes of Boris Johnson’s premiership. When Healy interviews Johnson’s father Stanley on Wednesday morning, the UK prime minister is still clinging on to office, even as his grip is prised away fingernail by fingernail, but the presenter pays little heed to parental sensitivities as he drags his guest over the coals about his son’s shortcomings.
“Do you believe Boris is honest all the time?” Healy asks. When Johnson snr responds by talking about his son’s “absolute willingness to be good to people”, his host rephrases the question: “Do you think he is a liar?” Even allowing for the validity of the query, and for the father’s rose-tinted view of his son’s “fantastic record”, it’s an excruciating spectacle, which comes to a suitably abrupt conclusion when Healy asks about Johnson jnr’s “moral compass”. “I’m going to call it a day,” Johnson says, his stiffly polite tone unable to conceal his irritation, and indeed condescension. “You have a wonderful country, you’re a wonderful interviewer, but I’ve said all I want to say at this point.”
It may be short on concrete information, but the interview is the one of the most striking pieces of radio coverage on the Downing Street fiasco. While it’s difficult to hear anyone being so mercilessly quizzed about their child’s failings, Stanley Johnson’s performance also suggests his son didn’t lick his needy egotism and irrational boosterism off the stones: when was the last time a political leader’s parent went on air to defend their offspring, in a foreign country to boot? After that, Healy’s next guest, former UK Labour Party spokesman Alastair Campbell, is a more predictable presence. He dubs Boris Johnson a “sociopathic narcissist” and talking disapprovingly about his father’s complicated personal life, prompting the host to swiftly change topic: “Let’s park that bus.”
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Healy’s alarmed reaction to Campbell’s street fighter tactics underlines the presenter’s very different instincts. Healy isn’t one of nature’s attack dogs: following his grilling of Johnson, he concedes that the encounter sounded uncomfortably close to a teacher berating a parent about a wayward child. Rather than go for the jugular, the naturally affable host prefers to posit awkward scenarios for his political guests to contemplate, before pressing them on their answers.
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It’s not the most dramatic approach, but it can yield results. On Tuesday, he talks to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar about the soaring cost of living, asking why the Cabinet is waiting until September to introduce an increased budget. This hits a nerve with the Tánaiste. “Another question to ask is why do we have the €6.7 billion surplus,” he replies snippily, talking up the strength of the economy and adding “it didn’t happen by accident”.
Healy points out he said the Government is in a “privileged position” thanks to its increased tax take, but Varadkar won’t let it go: “Sometimes privilege is bestowed, this is earned.” Only then does the Tánaiste address the fact that people are suffering due to inflation. “Everyone will see a little squeeze and some people are facing very difficult decisions,” he acknowledges, while defending the Coalition’s response as “dynamic”.
As with his conversation with Johnson, Healy’s interview with Varadkar is revealing in ways his guest mightn’t have intended. Though the Fine Gael leader says governments not getting credit is just how politics works, he comes across as prickly and defensive, particularly when his host is courteously inquiring rather than aggressively prying. It’s possible Varadkar would have been in a better mood had he been interviewed the next day, when the threat of prosecution for leaking documents is finally lifted. But either way, praising your administration for doing a terrific job on the economy as many people struggle with rocketing costs doesn’t project an understanding image. As for Healy, his quietly intelligent style is attractive, and deceptive too: low-key can be as effective as high intensity.
Another sudden cessation of communication occurs when Seán Moncrieff (Newstalk, weekdays) discusses the feverish machinations to defenestrate Johnson with Sky News correspondent Enda Brady, only for the line to drop out. As efforts are made to re-establish contact, the host uses every trick in the book to fill the dead air. “I’ll just whistle,” he quips. Eventually, the conversation resumes: a happy eventuality, as it’s an insightful yet accessible analysis of Britain’s political chaos.
There’s an easy banter between host and guest, encapsulated by Moncrieff’s incredulous reaction to Brady’s opinion that former UK chancellor Rishi Sunak’s wealth is a handicap to becoming Conservative leader: “What, a posh rich boy wouldn’t be attractive to Tory voters?” Meanwhile Brady, who is Irish, is pessimistic that tattered Anglo-Irish relations will be improved by a change of prime minister. “They will always use Ireland as something they can kick around,” he says of the Tories, adding, “It has never ceased to stagger me how little people here know about Ireland.” Johnson’s untrustworthiness has created all sorts of problems, but his exit won’t solve them.
Such items highlight how for all Moncrieff’s studied larkiness, his show is anchored by substance. On Tuesday, for instance, an ostensibly daft item about a food challenge at a Dublin cafe — involving the consumption of a stomach-busting 22-inch breakfast roll — ends with a telling glimpse of the reality of rising inflation, as the eatery’s owner talks of falling customer numbers and €500 weekly electricity bills. After hearing that, boasts about a strong economy are hard to swallow.
True, there’s plenty of random fluff on the show as well, from Graham Norton merrily chatting about the joys of blending grape varietals for his wine range, to Fianna Fáil TD Eamon Ó Cuiv giving a stunningly long-winded account of receiving a revolver than once belonged to his grandfather Éamon de Valera. That said, even Moncrieff’s eclectic mix can’t beat the farcical nature of Boris Johnson’s exit for surreal entertainment value.
Radio Moment of the Week
As Boris Johnson’s tenure as UK prime minister reaches its suitably shambolic endgame, there’s vaguely heartening consolation to be found in the appearance of former Tory MP Anna Soubry on Thursday’s Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1). Talking to Áine Lawlor, Soubry — who left the Conservatives over Brexit — is relieved to be out of that toxic world (“Thank God I’m not involved in the Tory party”). But as she equates the “appalling” Johnson’s dogged determination to stay on with Donald Trump’s refusal to leave office, it’s her contrite tone that stands out. “I feel this need to apologise to your listeners on behalf of the British people,” Soubry says, recognising how damaging the whole farrago has been. If only her erstwhile colleagues showed such humility and self-awareness.
