2019 General Christmas election.

It gives them less to analyse and if it is inaccurate (how soundly I went to sleep back in 2016) it isn't great either. Three polls which may or may not contradict each other at least gives viewers more to analyse.


Obviously smaller samples means less accuracy but not sure how a sample split across different polls works statistically. Could 10 polls of 1000 people be more indicative of the population than 1 poll of 10000, even if 3 or 4 of those polls are wrong?

There wasn't an exit poll in 2016 - they didn't do one because there were no previous polls to compare it to. There were polls during the campaign, but not on the night. All the exit polls in the elections this decade have been pretty much dead right.

There was certainly a prediction, perhaps based on early results. I know I went to bed thinking we'd never see Nigel Farage on TV ever again and woke up less happy.

Iirc many on the night at around 10pm were predicting the higher than expected turnout would benefit remain but the opposite was true of course.

I think there was a YouGov poll that was quoted. Farage conceded early (then un-conceded and then denied ever conceding), which may have contributed to the impression you had.

NEW: ITV News has just told me Boris Johnson will NOT be taking part in an interview with Julie Etchingham

ITV said: "Every other leader of Great Britain's main political parties that has been approached has done an interview for Tonight" @julieetchitv

— Anna Mikhailova (@AVMikhailova) December 5, 2019

Andrew Neil just gave a good address, to Mr Johnson, who continues to refuse to be interviewed by Andrew Neil. I thought Andrew made a very good statement here regarding Mr Johnson's refusal to be interviewed by Andrew.

“It is not too late. We have an interview prepared. Oven-ready, as Mr Johnson likes to say”

Andrew Neil issues a challenge for Boris Johnson to commit to an interview with him, to face questions on why people have “deemed him to be untrustworthy”https://t.co/daHLxEYn4r pic.twitter.com/oQ21uDdtJe

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 5, 2019

oh well, at least Phillip & Holly stepped up

I think it was necessary in terms of balance to formally acknowledge on air as part of this series of interviews that Johnson had been repeatedly invited to take part and had declined.

To simply omit him from the series without comment would not really be on.