Nick Robinson's Newslog

In and out

• Nick
• 5 May 06, 11:08 AM

I’ve just interviewed the former home secretary Charles Clarke who says that he was sacked by Tony Blair – even though he was offered other jobs in government.

It is clear that Mr Clarke is as bemused as many onlookers by the fact that one day the Prime Minister said he was the right man for the job, and the next that he had to go.

You can see my interview on News 24 imminently.

PS: I’ve often interviewed resigning ministers, but this was amongst the bizarrest. When I was called to be told the news, I was naked in bed in a Westminster hotel hoping to get at least an hour’s sleep, having stayed up all night covering the local elections. The interesting discovery I’ve made is that you can go from being in bed to attending a resignation statement in exactly seven minutes.