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

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Congratulations to Rob Burley on the publication of Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?, out today from Mudlark, an imprint of HarperCollins. On the claim, detailed in his book, that Gibb, a No 10 aide to Theresa May, had tried to divert him from investigating the government’s claims about the financial benefits of Brexit, Burley added: “I was quite straight about it in the book, and I don’t believe that Robbie has contradicted my version. In fact, he has repeated his line that it was important to ‘move on’ and not to just re-litigate Brexit.” At the time of the referendum Gibb was editor of the BBC’s live politics programmes. Burley grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and was interested in politics from a young age. He obtained a degree in American studies from the University of Nottingham. [2] In 2022, Burley joined Global as executive editor of Andrew Marr's LBC programme Tonight with Andrew Marr. [11]

Farber, Alex (24 February 2022). "Rob Burley reunited with Andrew Marr at LBC". Broadcast . Retrieved 28 February 2022. Kakar, Arun (14 February 2018). "Andrew Marr editor to head up live political programmes at BBC as Victoria Derbyshire editor leaves for Channel 4 Dispatches". Press Gazette . Retrieved 7 December 2019. Ten years ago, John Humphrys made a documentary about the welfare state for BBC2. When he was growing up in Cardiff, he said, hardly anyone was on benefits. Now, vast numbers are. Why? What had gone wrong? A good question – but, as he found out, a suicidally dangerous one for any BBC journalist to ask. He was hauled in front of a BBC star chamber, accused of supporting Tory policy, then found guilty of breaching guidelines on impartiality and accuracy. I spoke to him about it afterwards: his lesson, he said, was never to do something like that again. In this unique book Rob Burley sets out to explore the state of democracy and accountability in an era when voters have come to expect untruthfulness from their leaders. Taking us inside the negotiations, intense preparations and tense encounters between heavyweight interviewers and politicians, Burley reveals why those who lead us are so reluctant to speak the truth and how they try to – and often succeed in – getting away with it.

Burley, who is now a producer at Sky News and makes interview shows fronted by its political editor, Beth Rigby, said his book was intended to entertain, while also “making the argument about the value of lengthier interviews”. After 25 years making political television, working with star presenters on interviews with prime ministers, chancellors and world leaders, I want to tell the inside story,” said Burley. “It’s no exaggeration to say that these encounters, between interviewers and politicians who rule us, are now a battle over truth. At a time in our political culture when truth matters more than ever but is in such short supply, I’m excited to be working with Joel at HarperNonFiction to take readers behind the scenes and reveal why those who lead us are so often ready to lie—and how they get away with it.” Rob Burley was for many years the man responsible for the live music at the end of The Andrew Marr Show, but don’t hold that against him. Apart from orchestrating the awkwardness of cabinet ministers nodding along to the oboe-botherer of the week, he has had a ringside seat for some of the biggest political interviews for more than a quarter of a century.

Rob Burley (born 1969) is an English television producer, formerly the BBC's editor of live political programmes. He was the editor of The Andrew Marr Show, Politics Live, Newscast on television, Newswatch and The Westminster Hour.Burley agrees that viewers’ trust has been shaken by the recent inquiry prompting the departure of BBC chairman Richard Sharp, the Tory party donor linked to organising a loan for Johnson, especially when taken together with Gibb’s seat on the board and Davie’s historic involvement with the local Conservative party politics. But he said he sees it as a problem with perception rather than a real danger. HarperCollins has scooped Why is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?,an insider account and debut by former BBC political programming editor Rob Burley. The producer who was, until recently, at the heart of the BBC’s political coverage has criticised director general Tim Davie’s failure to “really understand journalism” and lamented fresh threats to the standard of the broadcaster’s current affairs analysis. 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.