BBC & Alex Salmond

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Just able to reflect on interview with Alex Salmond towards the close of this morning Today programme. While Iain Dale went away thinking about life in the Tory shadow cabinet as Cameron creates a hostage to fortune, I can't shake off the echoes of Scotland's first minister being interviewed about his New Year's message by Sarah Montague. He was patronised from the opening "good morning to you". He delightfully wrong-footed the BBC whose poll information on "outright" independence was as out of date as their information on what he actually said. But it was the tone, the "do we have to interview him again, can he really matter?" which he patiently dealt with, wisely refusing to go on about when Brown last talked with him on the phone as, unable to expose him as unimportant, Montague tried to stir up a personal fight and make it all about personalities. Unlike the interview with Cameron  it struck me there was no respect for a serious leader, who is, after all, in office.