The Sun newspaper’s politics show, Never Mind the Ballots, leans heavily on the great soft-comedy moments of golden British TV men-talking, its name pilfered from Never Mind the Buzzcocks, its graphics from Have I Got News for You.
This was a smart idea, because it looks fun, but it was also a dumb idea, because it was not fun. Even Rishi Sunak’s eyebrows flagged surprise, yet it was not surprising. Harry Cole kept promising that they were running out of time, yet time did not run out.