After any major interview, I turn with great interest to discover from Twitter whether I am currently a sinister Marxist undermining the Tories; a foam-flecked believer in the hardest of hard Brexits; or a mildly outdated Blairite propagandist. Maybe, I’m all three. Or, just possibly, I ask the questions, rather than taking responsibility for the answers. Our job at the BBC is not to denounce, lampoon, deride or sneer at elected politicians but to ask them, politely, direct and relevant questions — pause — and let the viewers decide. The number of viewers watching the show suggests the majority understand this. But there’s no doubt that the vote to leave the EU has made many people in certain parts of British public life almost uncontrollably angry. That’s going to be a problem for the lucky soul who eventually takes over from the great David Dimbleby on Question Time. I’ve shared late nights with him during elections and heard the babble of frantic voices coming into his earpiece as he sails on imperturbably. Whoever succeeds him should remember: Dimbles made it look easy. That doesn’t mean it is easy.
This is an extract from Andrew Marr's Diary, which appears in this week's Spectator