Political media too cynical, says Cole

John Cole has now taken to novel writing

By Ollie Stone-Lee BBC News Online political staff

When John Cole remarks on how the world has changed, one of his irreverent sons apparently jokes that his 74-year-old father is a victim of "Old Hand Syndrome".

A decade after retiring from the fray of Westminster reporting, the former BBC political editor in fact carries more the voice of experience than the call of "in my day..."

I don't want the opinions of some airhead who has never been to Westminster at all

John Cole

His memoirs revealed worries about the path his trade was treading and the intervening years have heightened his fears about the media's impact on public life.

In an interview for BBC News Online, Cole, now a novelist, says: "I don't think people are as turned off politics as perhaps the turnout figures suggest.

"I do actually think - this is a bit of a current obsession - that the way in which the media are treating politics, and I'm talking about political reporting, indicates a degree of cynicism that goes beyond proper journalistic scepticism."

Serious complaints

He is mentioning no names but speaks of a couple of broadcasters in the few days before our interview "saying things on the airwaves that in my day they would have had bottoms very fairly kicked".

Cole's complaint is that they are voicing their own opinions, a tendency that gets short shrift from a journalist as well-respected for his impartiality as he is famous for his Ulster accent.

"I don't want the opinions of some airhead who has never been to Westminster at all," he fumes.

Tony Blair had only just reached the frontbench in Cole's years

He notes too that after the "hell of a fuss" broadcasters made in trying to get cameras into the Commons, footage of Parliament now forms only tiny clips in news reports.

With public interest in politics a problem which is vexing both broadcasters and politicians alike, Cole suggests there is a vicious cycle at work.

Cynicism worries

"I think the lesser reporting of politics, particularly on radio and television, and television above all, does mean that people are less interested in it," he says.

"It doesn't come alive so much for them and the impression comes across of cynicism, that the reporters are cynical about politics, or the presenters or whoever."

The audience take their reaction from those people too, Cole argues.

Labour cannot rely forever on anti-Thatcher feeling

The BBC has launched a full review of its political coverage amid fears the voters are not being engaged.

Cole admits to "shooting off" his mouth about some of the things that irritate him in retirement.

But when he was at the BBC he was determined not to be involved in its politics and he is clearly not going to start, even ten years after he left.

The media's way of covering politics is, however, only part of the reason for the low turnout seen at recent elections, he suggests.

The 'don't knows'

"The other problem is that the gap between the parties and what they stand for is not clear enough," he continues.

Cole argues that is particularly because Tony Blair has achieved his aim of stopping his party being old Labour - with great electoral success.

"The downside of that is that people don't know what they're voting for," he says.

"They're voting for not Mrs Thatcher and not the Conservative Party, but that can't last forever and so a lot of people didn't go out last time."

Tony Blair said with a winning smile: 'Don't worry, you'll have to pay more tax' - which I haven't

John Cole

Labour is now beginning to realise it cannot rely on disaffection with its opponents to get its vote out, believes Cole.

Despite their rethink, the Conservatives really depend on a disastrous decline in the government's support to make real progress, he continues.

Cole's background on the Guardian newspaper give a clear hint of where his political sympathies lie - he was once offered a seat in Parliament by a senior Labour figure.

Tax change

Now free to voice those views, he says Labour would have been better raising income tax than the 1p National Insurance hike announced in the Budget.

More investment still will be needed to sort out the problems of the National Health Service, he argues.

"I've said to both Blair before the election and Brown later that I wouldn't believe it was a Labour government unless I had to pay more tax," he explains.

Cole's first novel is about the Northern Ireland peace process

"Tony said with a winning smile: 'Don't worry, you'll have to pay more tax' - which I haven't.

"Gordon said: 'You could make a voluntary contribution, John!'"

Blair had only just become a frontbench spokesman when Cole retired from the BBC in 1992.

In his political memoirs, Cole admitted many of the characters he encountered during his Westminster work were more suited to a picaresque novel.

Lifelong ambition

With his first novel, a Clouded Peace, just published in paperback, is that why he decided to branch into writing fiction?

"You could put it like that," he replies. "I mean, I've always wanted since I was a teenager to write a novel and I got diverted into journalism and various other interesting things along the way.

"But there's no doubt the kind of people I've met in journalism, broadcasting and politics did sort of whet my appetite for creating characters."

A Clouded Peace is a fast-moving political thriller about a journalist who goes to Northern Ireland as a special adviser tasked with trying to broker peace talks with the IRA.

Peace worries

When the talks fall apart, the terrorists are quick to target his family in a tug-of-war between career and home life.

Cole is clearly at pains to be fair to all his characters but it is not hard to detect his pessimism about the path to peace.

We've bought the peace for the middle classes at the expense of working class ghettoes where the bully boys are in charge

John Cole

He hopes and prays the peace process will work - and believes that it is doing so on one level through the power sharing executive now in place at Stormont.

But his visits to Northern Ireland have made him aware of the continued wave of punishment beatings in both Loyalist and Republican "ghettoes".

He says: "Frankly, we've bought the peace for the middle classes, both in Ulster and the English cities, at the expense of working class ghettoes where the bully boys are in charge..."

Now starting his second novel, Cole is turning to a more light-hearted theme as takes an outsider's perspective on the English class system as its theme.

He admits his natural enthusiasm makes him sound as though he misses covering politics when in truth he is enjoying his new pursuit.

"I'm 74 now and I don't have any illusions that I would be capable to charging around at the speed that I used to so I'm quite happy to sit in my study and write books," he concludes.

A Clouded Peace by John Cole is published by Orion, priced £5.99.