Ian Hislop comes out on BBC Question Time

(not satire – it’s the UK today)

I was really looking forward to Ian Hislop on BBC Question Time last Thursday.

After all – as the leading political satirist of a country whose government’s idea of tackling the worst economic crisis we have seen for generations is to shoot badgers and tax pasties, bedrooms and grannies – his head must surely have been bursting with hard-hitting nuggets of pure comedic gold.

And what – to my genuine surprise – did we get?

First of all Ian praised the prime minister for his speech on the EU.

Then he answered a question about the massive cuts to our armed forces by attacking Labour for wasting so much money at the MoD.

He rounded off his bizarre appearance by strongly praising an infamous speech Tory Health Minister Anna Soubry had given in which she claimed she could tell someone’s background by how overweight they are.

I was confused.

Satire is supposed to prick the consciences of those in power – with the word ‘prick’ being the operative word there.

But not only was there no comedy from Mr Hislop – I couldn’t even detect any criticism at all directed at those running the country.

Ian – along with other political commentators such as Guido Fawkes – don’t seem to have realised yet that Labour and Gordon Brown are no longer in power.

The country’s now being run by a triumvirate of out-of-touch Bullingdon Club caricatures, whose idea of being in touch is to eat Pizza in an exclusive Swiss ski resort while the rest of the country launches headlong into an unprecendented triple-dip recession

Yes I know the Bullingdon pizza club reunion in Davos was after Ian appeared on BBS Question Time but you get my point.

So what’s happened to the editor of Private Eye?

Well – I suspect Hislop’s problem is that he’s being confronted by a government which he actually rather likes – surely professional death to any satirist.

I recall a couple of quotes from Hislop which I dismissed as meaningless at the time.

In an appearance on Question Time in 2008, he praised the Liberal Democrats and even joked about “standing for them.”

Ian has also said in an interview that if he were forced at the point of a gun to stand in an election for any British political party, he would stand for a “Vince Cable for Treasurer Party”

A situation we actually just about have now that Cable is Business Secretary.

Oh dear. Now I know we’re really f***ed.

Because I’ve just realised our country’s so-called leading satirist is a secret right-wing Liberal Democrat orange booker Nick Clegg supporter who’s quite keen on what the coalition government’s doing.

Erm. Can we have a new editor of Private Eye please?

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