No Darling, it’s Gordon.

Monday, 26^th January 2009

 

Story:    No Darling, it’s Gordon.

 

Late in the working day last Friday we received an email from the FPA alerting us that a senior cabinet minister would be speaking ‘on camera and on record’ about Britain and the Global Economy on the 26^th January.

With the WEF (World Economic Forum) coming up in Davos next week we thought it a good chance for some sound bites from a member of the government. We put our names down to attend and speculated about who it might be. We wouldn’t know until early Monday morning, for security reasons, but I thought that it could be the Chancellor, Alastair Darling.

 

Well this morning the FPA email informed us that it was to be Gordon Brown. I thought great, a good opportunity for some unilateral shots of the PM. I got to the FPA early, headed upstairs to the room to be used and was stopped by a young man asking if I was the ITN cut away guy, on hearing that I wasn’t he informed me that we were not free to film as the event was being pooled by ITN but would be on ITN, Sky and the Beep. Not happy I met the head of the FPA on the stairs and he apologized confirming that they’d only just this morning heard themselves about the pool arrangements from Downing Street. I called my correspondent and producer passé don the news and suggested we pick up the feed from the BT Tower and record it ourselves. I would just wait outside and film the PM’s arrival, better than nothing I guessed.

 

My correspondent decided he’d try a piece to camera, with the PM in shot, as he left after the briefing. Mr Brown had arrived by car, and his car and driver waited for him, in fact when they re-parked with the engine running at the entrance it was the cue for us to get ready. My correspondent came rushing out, just about found the microphone I’d prepared for him in time and it was decided that I’d follow Gordon entering the car and then pull back to include my correspondent.

As it happened, the PM came out walked past his car, towards me, a security officer asked me not to move and then asked me to move as Mr Brown passed me and headed off down the street. I could hear my correspondent’s voice  commentating in my headphone and belatedly he appeared in front of the camera, but the moment was gone and the piece no good.

 

It was ironic actually because whilst I had been waiting outside I was chatting to a couple of other cameramen about how if it had been David Miliband in the FPA today that he would have walked to and from the venue. Someone commented that it was the way Miliband walked that mattered, that it was in a style fairly close to that of John Cleese.