Andrew Marr, BBC News at Ten, BBC1, April 9, 2003

As if finally liberated from the bonds of public doubt and scepticism, the BBC's political editor, Andrew Marr, rose up to deliver a career-defining speech to the nation from outside Downing Street:

'Frankly, the main mood [in Downing Street] is of unbridled relief', he began. 'I've been watching ministers wander around with smiles like split watermelons.' (BBC News At Ten, April 9, 2003)

The fact that Marr delivered this with his own happy smile was a portent of what was to come. Marr was asked to describe the significance of the fall of Baghdad. This is what he said:

'Well, I think this does one thing - it draws a line under what, before the war, had been a period of... well, a faint air of pointlessness, almost, was hanging over Downing Street. There were all these slightly tawdry arguments and scandals. That is now history. Mr Blair is well aware that all his critics out there in the party and beyond aren't going to thank him - because they're only human - for being right when they've been wrong. And he knows that there might be trouble ahead, as I said. But I think this is very, very important for him. It gives him a new freedom and a new self-confidence. He confronted many critics.

'I don't think anybody after this is going to be able to say of Tony Blair that he's somebody who is driven by the drift of public opinion, or focus groups, or opinion polls. He took all of those on. He said that they would be able to take Baghdad without a bloodbath, and that in the end the Iraqis would be celebrating. And on both of those points he has been proved conclusively right. And it would be entirely ungracious, even for his critics, not to acknowledge that tonight he stands as a larger man and a stronger prime minister as a result.' (Marr, BBC 1, News At Ten, April 9, 2003)

Extract from 'Guardians of Power: The Myth of the Liberal Media' by David Edwards and David Cromwell (Pluto Books, 2006), pp. 52-53.

• Category

  News & Politics

[wotdoesitmatter]

Without a bloodbath?

If by baghdad he means Iraq, then 1 million+ dead is no bloodbath. I'm thinking genocide. Well done Marr - power can count on you!

[bbcwatch]

The invasion period was brutal. It's easy to forget because of the "ghastly scenes", "terrorist attacks" and all sorts of things that subsequently went "wrong". Andrew Marr could barely conceal his own smile. Toppling a mere statue can make a man giddy.

[MashOfficial]

he might as well just suck on Tony's knob

[AssSprinkle]

Tool.

[Al Dunsmuir]

If Russian or Iranian state TV had a political correspondent as deferential to his leaders as Marr is, we'd call them non democratic countries.

Yesterday someone got sentenced to 120 hours of 'educational rehabilitation' for shouting 'no cuts' at Cameron.

Why is this allowed to happen in the UK?

[Michael Black]

How can he deliver this servile grovelling without embarrassment? If I did it, I would feel ashamed of myself. 

[newsreeldemocracy]

Andrew Marr knows which arses to lick on his way to the top of political reporting at the BBC.

[newsreeldemocracy]

This clip should be played every Sunday before the Andrew Marr show and every day before the 10 O'clock News to remind me to switch off the TV.

[smeggypants]

Andrew Marr is nothing but a snivelling toadying arse lackey for the Ruling Elite. Noam Chomsky got it right when he sai marr wouldn't even be in teh job if he wasn't a snivelling toadying arse lackey for the Ruling Elite.

[smeggypants]

Marr is such a lying twat on both counts

"He said that they would be able to take Baghdad without a bloodbath, and that in the end the Iraqis would be celebrating. And on both of those points he has been proved conclusively right."

[Indul1]

Amazing stuff by marr, he learnt nothing from the beating Chomsky in 1996 gave him and this is just about the most amazing confirmation of the secular priesthood that you can imagine, I mean when I heard John Simpson boast he never gave an interview to Serbian state TV during the NATO air war against Serbia because it was a prop tool of the Milosevic government, what other interpretation can you put on this, it ranks up with some of the most shattering pro government propaganda you could invent.