Hodge was due to appear on Radio 4’s the World At One yesterday to discuss her speech but “something else came up”.

This sounds rather like you’d blame a woman for being raped because she dresses too provocatively! This government rarely responds straightforwardly to questions in Parliament, however well framed are the questions from either the Official or other Opposition Parties. The fact that they, the government, are now only willing to do radio interviews to attack another Party’s policies, whilst specifically stating they will not defend their own (why, because they’re indefensible?) is just a new low in the depths this government has plumbed in its efforts to stifle democractic accountability. As with everything this Government does, for example the so-called Freedom of Information Act, the detail needs to be examined with forensic care – it loooks good on the surface, as they intend, but means in practice very little.

That’s just silly. Normally what happens is that the Minister for Defending the Indefensible (let’s say, Hazel Blears) goes on the programme and attempts to deviate the interview towards attacking the opposition – like Just a Minute from a parallel universe. To admit you’ll only do an interview to behave like an attack dog gives the whole game away. It’s both cowardice and contempt.

What’s even more entertaining is that the World at One is hardly Torquemada’s chamber. After all the BBC daily prostrates itself before NuLab’s altar, declaring that it is not worthy – and it ain’t.