David Cooper recounts what it was like to be in the audience for last week's Question Time. Click here to apply to join the audience and here to suggest a panellist.
Last week I had the good fortune not only to be invited into the live Question Time audience, but also to be able to put a question to the panel about Harriet Harman’s walkabout in a stab proof vest.
Applying to go on the show may have been little more than wishful thinking at the time, after I had found out that there was to be a recording in Birmingham. The online application form simply asked a few fairly obvious questions, including political allegiance and party membership.
Three weeks passed by, then one of the producers rang on the Monday to ask if I was still interested. We went over what was topical – I mentioned Zimbabwe and MPs’ expenses, little knowing of the Labour deputy leader’s impending photo-call – and she confirmed my invitation. I was reminded that they positively encouraged audience participation, and she asked me to put in two questions, one via email by Tuesday afternoon and the other on the night.
My wife had her invitation confirmed separately and she alerted me to the Harman episode at lunchtime on Tuesday. By then there was already speculation about her fielding of this week’s PMQs. I thought about how to tie in a joke with a serious point and emailed the question over, wondering if William Hague might get in first from the very same angle. Of course the actual approach in the Commons was the all humour “clown suit to Cabinet meetings” attack, so I still had some hope of an original contribution.
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