Paxman troubled by his grilling of politicians

TV inquisitor Jeremy Paxman has confessed he regularly goes over the top when quizzing politicians.

And the Newsnight presenter said a famous grilling of then Home Secretary Michael Howard, in which he repeated the same question 14 times, was simply because he couldn’t think of anything else to ask.

Paxman said he “quite often” felt as though he had gone too far when quizzing political figures in an interview to be screened on Parkinson on BBC1 tomorrow.

He admitted: “I have often woken up in the morning and thought I really was a bit rough.

“It troubles me because in the end they have legitimacy and I don’t, they’re elected and I’m not.”

But he added: “I didn’t worry about the famous Michael Howard interview. He was unfortunate in that I’d asked the question about six or seven times and it was clear he wasn’t going to answer it.

“I was about to move on to something else when a voice came into my ear saying that the next piece of tape wasn’t cut and that I’d better carry on with the interview.

“I couldn’t think of anything else to ask him and so I repeated the question and even after 14 times he still didn’t answer it.”

Paxman also told Parkinson how he was booted out of his school for a term for drinking.

“I had a few problems with authority then – I was a difficult chap.”

*Parkinson BBC1 1055pm.