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Exit stage left

Why walking off a media interview is rarely (but not always) a bad idea.


I’ve spent a big chunk of my working life helping people deal with the media. Training them to stay put and stay calm in interviews – even when the questions are tough and the style is adversarial.

Getting up and walking out is never a good look, I’ve always argued. You’ll be remembered for the contretemps not the content. But there’s always an exception to the rule as the death of Sir John Nott, the former Conservative Defence Secretary, aged 92 reminds us.

Here he is in 1982 walking out of a live television interview with Sir Robin Day. A part of me wishes more politicans would do the same. But I guess the fact we’re still showing this clip more than 40 years later proves my point. That leaving the stage risks upstaging whatever it was you were trying to say.

Have your say. You know you want to!