Jeremy Paxman and Howard: the rematch

For eight famous minutes in 1997, just days after New Labour had trounced the Conservatives in the general election, Michael Howard (right) and Jeremy Paxman (left) appeared to be the most bitter enemies.

The BBC Newsnight presenter asked the former Conservative Home Secretary whether he had threatened to overrule the then head of the prison service, Derek Lewis, about the possible dismissal of the governor of Parkhurst prison.

When Howard was evasive, Paxman put the question again and again – a total of 12 times – without receiving a straight answer. The interview (video below) went down in TV history and is widely regarded as having helped stall Howard’s political career (though fellow Tory Ann Widdecombe’s famous comment about Howard - “there is something of the night about him” - made only six days later didn’t help either).

Now the pair are to let bygones be bygones at a Media Society Award Dinner where Paxman is to be honoured for his career in journalism – and Howard is to be one of the guest speakers.
 
Howard should find this easy: since leaving his political career, he has earned a living as an after-dinner speaker where he is billed as a man “governed by the values he grew up with and still believes in today: hard work; fairness; honesty; tolerance; and patriotism.”

Whether Paxman will relish a night of back-slapping and honeyed praise is not so certain: however, the event is being held at the Landmark Hotel, seconds from Marylebone station. If it gets too sickly he can always duck out of the back door and take a train home to the Chilterns.

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