Green Party leader said it’s “for other people to judge” whether she comes across badly in interviews
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has been ripped to shreds by commentators this morning after doing a couple of excruciating radio interviews in which she failed to articulate the party’s policies.
Appearing on Radio 4 and then LBC this morning, Bennett appeared flustered as she was unable to come up with numbers or answer questions about Green Party policies.
It’s not the first time she’s come across badly in interviews – in fact, a disastrous interview on the Sunday Politics with Andrew Neil last month has had more than 120,000 views on YouTube.
A few days ago we caught up with Bennett, who is also standing as an MP in Holborn and St Pancras, in her constituency and asked her what a bad day was like.
“I suppose a bad day is when you feel like you’re not managing to get across clearly the policies and the ambition of the Green Party,” she said, after a long pause.
LondonlovesBusiness.com might hesitate to venture that today could be one of the worst days yet.
Alluding to her difficulty articulating herself in interviews she said she sometimes blames herself for problems in getting the party’s message across.
“There can be all kinds of reasons … Maybe you might blame yourself or maybe you might blame the circumstances,” she added.
“What I aim to get across is Green Party policies. What I’m speaking for is the 53,000 and counting Green Party members, so what I’m doing is presenting the democratically agreed policies of those members.
“I’m well aware that politics is often made to be about personality but I think it needs to be about a lot more. That shouldn’t be the primary factor,” she said, adding she worked as part of a close-knit team.
Despite LondonlovesBusiness.com’s attempts to press her, Bennett would not reveal whether she thought she came across well in interviews with the media, saying it was “for other people to judge”.
And judge they have.
“Natalie Bennett” was trending on Twitter as people discussed her performance.
I see Natalie Bennett has stuck her foot in her mouth again on LBC. Has no one from the #greenpartythought to give her media training yet?
— Lisa Jenkins (@lisaannejenkins) February 24, 2015
Horrible interview for @TheGreenParty. May still vote green as protest, but this will cost votes “@OwenJones84: http://t.co/ABWfSZrVmO”
— Joey Whitehead (@Joeyrivale) February 24, 2015
I am beginning to feel that the left produced Natalie Bennett only to make Ed Miliband appear comparatively less awful.
— Cllr Tim Swinyard (@TimSwinyard) February 24, 2015
To be fair to Natalie Bennett, I don’t think today’s interview was any worse than the one she gave to @afneil a couple of weeks ago.
— Adrian Weale (@Edeaulx) February 24, 2015
Why has Natalie Bennett gone unprepared for an interview again? Sake.
— Joe Curran (@JC_Curran) February 24, 2015
Natalie Bennett’s LBC interview is the worst political interview since Frank Underwood played the vowel game
— Mark Mclaughlin (@markvmclaughlin) February 24, 2015
Some tweeps telling me that Natalie Bennett’s confession of a “mind blank” makes her more human and endears her even more #LBC#greenparty
— Matthew Thompson (@mattuthompson) February 24, 2015
Following the furore, Bennett did garner sympathy after apologising to the Green Party for letting members down.
Natalie Bennett apologising for her interview performance to Green party members is actually to her credit.
— Brian Williams (@BriW74) February 24, 2015
@MSmithsonPBPolitics not personality. I’m keeping my faith in @natalieben and a new (admittedly less media savvy) type of politics
— Richard Sharp (@RichJSharp) February 24, 2015
.@MollyMEP @GreenJennyJones @natalieben By the standards of today’s slick liars, she was pretty crap. However, admitting it goes a long way.
— Secret Ledger (@secret_ledger) February 24, 2015
people are calling for a politician without all the wind, they get a normal person, and then people dont them. Cant win. Natalie Bennett
— Lara Heterotic (@rixtin) February 24, 2015
Thing with Natalie Bennett is that she’s quite a normal person, not a media-trained Eton statesman. Isn’t that what we wanted?
— Guy Lambert (@SohoGuy) February 24, 2015
Read our full interview with Natalie Bennett later this week.
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