When will they learn?

Dodging questions in media interviews is never a good look. 

The audience hates it. It antagonises journalists. And it does not make the issue go away.

It also leaves spokespeople looking evasive and slippery. 

Just ask Rishi Sunak.

His first set-piece interview of 2023 has been undermined by a question about whether he uses private healthcare. 

It happened during an interview with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC’s Sunday. 

Asked if he has been registered with a private GP, the Prime Minister said, “My dad was a doctor. I grew up in an NHS family”, which appeared to be the answer to an entirely different question.

When the journalist interrupted that scripted response and asked the question again, he said: “As a general policy, I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation. It is not really relevant. What is relevant is the difference I can make to the country.”

Ms Kuenssberg interrupted him, asking him why he won’t say whether he has private healthcare.

“It is a distraction from what the real issue is,” he said. “The real issue is, are we making sure there is high-quality healthcare available for the country? 

“When it comes to the private sector in general, we should be making use of the independent sector. I don’t have any problem with that whatsoever.”

This approach to a pretty straightforward question resulted in more damaging headlines for Mr Sunak. 

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