Voices: What Richard Madeley said to Mick Lynch went too far

I actually feel quite sorry for Richard Madeley. Imagine being the living incarnation of a comedy character that was specifically created to send up every incompetent, desperate, right-wing presenter on telly – Steve Coogan’s Alan Partridge. Imagine, at this precise moment, looking even more ridiculous and more Partridge than the usual suspect, Jeremy Clarkson. And Clarkson punched a colleague because he couldn’t have the food he wanted. The stakes are high here.

Unfortunately for Madeley, when you shoot for the general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Mick Lynch, you’d better not miss. But miss he did; as has every single presenter and interviewer attempting to trip and belittle Lynch in the last six months or so.

And why? Because Lynch is on the side of working people – he knows it and they know it.

On today’s Good Morning Britain, Madeley sputtered and flapped his way through something that only the incredibly generous would dub an interview. He seemed to dive into the segment with an anti-union agenda – and who’s really surprised? – but became so immediately incandescent, apoplectic even, when Lynch said it wasn’t yet Christmas, that he began to malfunction.

Madeley shouted over Lynch, working himself into a lather with classic lines like, “I won’t let you get away with nonsense” (this was still about the vital debate of when “commercial Christmas” starts, by the way). He huffed and puffed and raised his blood pressure, while Lynch bore it with the energy of a primary school teacher who is now fully inured to seeing kids shove wax crayons up each others noses.

The thing about Lynch is that he’s genuinely good at media appearances. He doesn’t play games, he stays perfectly calm, he gets his point across – and can be funny while doing it. Case in point, when he answered a question from GB News and then asked: “Is there anyone from a normal outlet?” Put that quote on Etsy merch, and it’ll sell out in time for Christmas.

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Back to Madeley, practically frothing at the mouth, and long-suffering Lynch, who couldn’t really get a word in edgeways, what with the most disappointing half of Richard & Judy’s Book Club ranting on. He let Madeley embarrass himself, and eventually, because life really is too short, asked: “Why don’t you interview yourself?”

Madeley’s response – “I’m holding you to account on behalf of the viewers” – will come as a real surprise to anyone who has ever watched, listened to or read a competent interview. There are two essential ingredients: you ask questions and you listen to the answers. This formula was lost on Madeley.

You don’t hold people to account by making GMB’s 2.4 million or so viewers practically turn inside out because they’re cringing so hard at your breakfast TV hissyfit. And you don’t interview by shouting over people – then you’re just the bloke ranting in the pub that everyone else is studiously trying to ignore.

It seems Madeley, worth an estimated £4m, does not like working people exercising their democratic right to withhold labour in a peaceful and organised manner, in order to collectively bargain for fair pay and safe working conditions. And that’s fine: you do you, Richard. But I don’t think that you were conducting a serious interview or seeking any real insight into why strike action is occurring in December.

For me, at best, it was an attempt to make a viral clip that will be talked about today – and if so, job done. At worst, it’s yet another example of privileged, right-wing voices being the loudest – literally – in the room.

Remember, Madeley and his ilk are insulated from the cost of living crisis. They’re not worried about putting the heating on or feeding their kids or how they’ll afford Christmas presents this year. It’s so very easy for them to lay into unions and people on strike, many of whom undoubtedly agonised over how unpopular their industrial action would be and the impact it would have, but feel they have no choice.

It’s also true that no one relishes having their festive travel plans disrupted. I’m concerned for my own journey back “up North” this month (it’s not the North, it’s the Midlands, but if you’re coming from London, everything above Watford is Northern) – but Mick Lynch and transport staff aren’t to blame. If blame is being laid anywhere, it should be squarely at the door of this Tory government, who have overseen the worst fall in living standards since records began.

This morning, Madeley told Lynch to “jog on”. The dismissive tone, the performative grandstanding – this is all an outrage game to people like Richard Partridge Madeley because they’re just not in it with the rest of us. And it’s so refreshing to see someone show them up for that.

Long live Mick Lynch, king of the media round.