Madeley v Williamson: In future Gavin, just say 'no'

But despite having to deal with the complex level of questioning expected by someone in his lofty cabinet position, nothing could have prepared him for the grilling he got from Richard Madeley on Good Morning Britain.

Actually this was less of a grilling and more of a single question asked repeatedly by a host who became increasingly exasperated with each non-answer.

Over the years Madeley (no relation to yours truly), who appears to revel in his reputation as the real Alan Partridge, hasn’t had too many chances to take political big guns to task.

So standing in for Piers Morgan and faced with Defence Secretary Williamson on a blustery morning at West Midland Safari Park, he clearly decided to go for broke.

“You told Russia to ‘shut up and go away’. Do you regret that now? Do you think it was a bit too informal?” said Madeley, arms folded, one hand resting on his chin.

Williamson, who thought he was there to talk about elephant poaching in Malawi rather than the question that was on everyone’s lips two months ago, looked puzzled.

WATCH the interview here:

He had uttered no more than a dozen words about health service personnel when Madeley hit him with his first interruption.

“Sorry, could you answer the question?” he blurted out, followed by, “no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Mr Williamson,” before Madeley took a slurp of his cuppa.

Williamson tried again, this time managing to get midway through a second sentence before Madeley piped up: “I’m asking the question not on my behalf but on behalf of our viewers, so on behalf of the viewers, would you please answer the question?”.

It went on. Trying another tact, Madeley brought The Donald into play. “Do you regret using very casual Trump-esque language like ‘shut up and go away’? Please don’t tell me what happened, because we know what happened. Do you regret using that language? That is the question.”

At the fourth (or was it fifth?) time of asking, Madeley gave up. “Alright, alright, interview terminated because you won’t answer the question.”

An uncomfortable smile appeared on Williamson’s face, his eyes momentarily darting off camera as a pair of elephants wandered around in a field behind him.

He was probably glad it was all over so he could talk to somebody else about the bloody poachers.

Madeley looked like he had won the lottery. “What are they like these politicians?” he asked bemused co-host Charlotte Hawkins, who did not appear to be relishing the ‘Lynn’ role.

Madeley had stopped just short of yelling out: “Smell my cheese you mother!”

For Williamson, it was a harsh lesson in the perils of coming up against a sensationalist TV presenter.

The question on many people’s lips is why on earth did the Defence Secretary not just give him the straight answer he so craved?

In future Gavin, just say ‘no’.