Televising of the House

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:06 pm on 9 February 1988.

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Photo of Mr Joe Ashton Mr Joe Ashton , Bassetlaw 4:06, 9 February 1988

I listened with great attention to the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Nelson), but to say, as he did, that television would ignore incidents that might take place is rather like saying that if television has been there when Abraham Lincoln got shot it would have concentrated on the play. The essence of television is this: it is about entertainment, not government. It is about ratings and about competition between channels to pull in the most viewers to watch "EastEnders", "Coronation Street" or whatever. Ultimately, television will do the same for politics as it has done for football — the crowds have decreased. Religion on Sunday is now Harry Secombe singing 1950s songs at 6.30 pm on "Songs of Praise". That is what television is about—it is a branch of show business.

If television were allowed to choose anying it would like to show, it would go into a courtroom to watch the trial of a woman who had been raped. There stands the rapist and all the gory evidence, with the cameras watching the victim weeping—television would love nothing better. It loves an IRA funeral, and disasters. It has to go for the juicy bits. Any producer who did not show an incident in the Chamber, once the trial period was over, would get the sack. The abseiling that took place last week would happen every day.

I have been in the House for 20 years. I have seen a bomb thrown from the Strangers Gallery — before television—and watched it roll up to Barbara Castle's handbag—