Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?: Searching for the Truth on Political TV

Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me? – a question famously asked by master TV inquisitor Jeremy Paxman – is a history of thirty years in British politics viewed through the prism of political television, from Thatcher’s fall to the crash and burn of Liz Truss, via the Iraq War, austerity, Brexit and Partygate. Rob Burley’s deliciously irreverent insider’s account of a career spent trying to get straight answers from politicians offers a unique insight into the British political class and their complicated relationship with the truth.

Rob Burley has prepared, practised and helped prosecute political interviews with eight prime ministers over more than twenty-five years, working alongside the biggest names in television. This book is his love letter to the political interview and, with the help of exclusive conversations with TV giants from Jeremy Paxman and Andrew Neil to Andrew Marr and Emily Maitlis, will take you inside the process like never before.

About the Author

Rob Burley is a television producer, programme editor and writer with more than twenty-five years' experience at the top of British television. He started his career at ITV, becoming editor of the channel's political programme. He joined the BBC in 2008, working as deputy editor of Newsnight and editor of The Andrew Marr Show before taking charge of the political programmes department, and devising and launching Politics Live. He left the BBC in 2021, assuming senior roles at LBC and then Sky News, where he plots interviews with political editor Beth Rigby.

He lives in Hove with his partner, two sons and, annoyingly, Parkinson's disease.

Dimensions (cm): 23.5 x 15.5  x 4