Ian Óg switches on the charm

One of the most admirable qualities that Tony Benn had  – and has – is that he insisted on judging policy, not the person. There’s no doubt that he’s right. In all sorts of spheres – poetry, art, sport as well as politics – we can be overwhelmed by the personality of the person in question, and instead of judging him or her on his or her achievements, we judge them on how decent a person they are.

This happens particularly on TV. An argument advanced by a vicious-looking or unattractive person can sound less convincing than that put forward by an agreeable or attractive person. But it even on radio, it sometimes happens as well. This morning on BBC Radio Ulster/Raidio Uladh’s ‘Good Morning Ulster’, Noel Thompson was interviewing Ian Óg Paisley about the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s decision to investigate those famous letters to OTRs, on the grounds that while the judge-led inquiry secured by Peter Robinson could not compel witnesses to appear, they could, and that in a number of other ways it would be a wider and deeper investigation than that which the judge would lead.  Noel Thompson asked if this didn’t make Peter Robinson’s claim that he had got what he wanted when he got his judge-led inquiry rather lame and even silly.

Ian Óg’s response was to go into a long harangue concerning the quality of the work he and others on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee would do. When Thompson tried to bring him back to the original question, which was that while Ian Óg’s party leader had said he was completely satisfied with the judge-led inquiry, the NI Affairs Committee clearly weren’t, or they wouldn’t be mounting their own inquiry, Ian Óg told Thompson to have the good manners to listen when he asked a question. In short, Ian Óg’s manner in the interview, whatever about his argument, was truculent and prickly.

And this is where the personality and the policy or issue come together. The reason for Ian Óg’s efforts to shout down Noel Thompson was that he knew he was on a sticky wicket. The mounting of a NI Affairs Committee investigation does indeed suggest that they believe the judge-led inquiry secured by Robinson is a toothless tiger. Knowing that he was on very thin ice, Ian Óg did his best to bluster in support of the obviously insupportable. For anyone listening to the interview, it would be impossible to come away with an improved view of Ian Óg’s personality. But then, for most people listening, Ian Óg’s personality – think of his father without the humour and charisma – was always a lead weight attached to anything he says.  Saddled in this instance with an indefensible case, poor Ian Óg’s charmless persona made the indefensible absurd.