Is he some Alexis Sánchez figure, a fabulous soccer signing – or merely a Mario Balotelli? The football parallels work well enough in high-profile TV transfer markets, too. Remember Adrian Chiles? And now there is Robert Peston. ITV has him, after a headline tug-of-war with the BBC (and a flood of barbed jokes from erstwhile colleagues). But now they have to decide how to deploy their new striker, floppy hair, long pauses, open-necked shirts and all.
Michael Jermey, ITV director of news and current affairs, says political editor Peston’s “conversations with Tom Bradby on News at Ten will be essential viewing for everyone who wants to be well-informed about politics. And our new programme Peston on Sunday will offer viewers a fresh and distinctive approach to political discussion at the weekend.” In short, he’ll be there on screen most nights, chatting to the presenter who used to have his new job, and going head-to-head with Andrew Marr on Sabbath mornings. Is this worth £350,000 plus an excited buzz?
It could be if Peston manages to do what he’s done through most of his Fleet Street and BBC life: find exclusive stories. The BBC political editorship’s default stance – well-exemplified during Nick Robinson’s tenure – is more interpreter than newshound. You try to explain what you think is going on to viewers. Often that’s helpful. Sometimes it can get a bit tedious – see Laura Kuenssberg’s rather relentless insistence that Tory time in Manchester was all about some race to succeed David Cameron in 2020, a distant horizon without hinterland. But – saving scoops – is there much allure to the spectacle of two political editors (one current, one past) chewing the fat on air each evening? No more, perhaps, than the Newsnight spectacle of one past economics editor, Evan Davis, interviewing his more junior economics correspondent, Duncan Weldon, about the latest deficit figures. It’s all a little lugubrious (though not as bad, perhaps, as the Newsnight situation had Peston stayed and been given a slot there: Evan interviewing Robert interviewing Duncan).
But news and allied blogging is one thing; Peston on Sunday was the deal-clincher here, the offer that couldn’t been refused. And now that offer has to be made solid flesh, wriggling on studio sofas. There’s an existential question first, though. Does Sunday need another political interview show?
There’s also a question of timing. ITV, remember, waxes hot and strong because the BBC’s main weekday News at Ten is parked on its audience ratings lawn. Where’s the public service in that? But now that boot changes foot. Do Peston and Marr go head-to-head at 9am in a move that’s bound to hurt Marr’s 1.44 million audience average? An earlier slot – remember the hard slog of Alastair Stewart’s modestly excellent Sunday Programme from 8am to 9 on GMTV before cancellation came – is no good option. Peston versus Match of the Day rewound. After that means church bells ringing and the big news breakers choosing Marr. Later still and you’re in Sunday Politics territory, up against Andrew Neil.
The impulsion to challenge Marr directly, time for time and interview for interview, is clear. But take a reality check before you do. Politics may bounce along in the media Westminster bubble. It is not great ratings bait – and declining. Marr used to get 2.39 million viewers five years ago. That’s 950,000 gone. Andrew Neil’s Sunday Politics, at 610,000 today, used to have 750,000. The Daily Politics show is down from 350,000 to 310,000. If ITV cares about ad rates, it will need to ponder audience sizes, too.
Of course there are opportunities to be exploited. Maybe Marr’s figures are falling because the formula’s a bit tired. Maybe Peston can attract heavy-hitting pols who don’t love the BBC (watch that Manchester queue spiral around the building). Maybe a few news-packed encounters could change the whole game.
But the game itself has hidden rules. ITV (see that valiant old GMTV contender) liked to give politicians a platform because politicians also helped decide franchise shifts. Peston can’t twist too many knives if he wants top interviewees back, because there’s always an alternative. Competition will spur on Andrew Marr in any case. And Messrs Cameron and Corbyn can’t sit in two studios simultaneously.
Hubble bubble, toil and trouble? Peston is an undoubted talent, his loss much lamented by those who worked closest to him at the BBC. If you like sparky rivalries, you’ll probably like what happens next. But is that a Sánchez I see before me – or a poor, bemused Balotelli on a free transfer yet again?
