Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Don’t shoot the critic

Tom Harris says I was “predictably cruel” to Khalid Mahmood who (perhaps deliberately) died on his feet at PMQs. How hard is it to ask a question, I said. “Well, you’ll never know the answer to that, Fraser, but believe me, it’s a lot harder than it looks, and certainly a lot harder than sitting in your office criticising the efforts of others,” replies Tom.

This may surprise Harris, but I actually agree with him in that I have no doubt that I’d be a dismal MP. I don’t think many political journalists believe they could do better than the ones whom we, from time to time, lay into. Criticism does no timply that the critic thinks he could do better. When football fans lambast a player on their team, it’s normally only the most drunken ones who shout “give me your shirt”.

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