Firstly, it’s important to understand that Rob Burley is currently the Executive Editor of Andrew Marr’s new radio show with LBC, and previously worked at the BBC as the head of their political programmes. Prior to that, he was the editor of The Andrew Marr Show.

This, of course, suggests an ulterior motive towards his criticism of the work of his successors, but also allows anyone to look back, and see what he actually did when he was in the position to make these sorts of choices.

This Week, the long-running late-night political discussion programme that was shown after Question Time for sixteen years, was within his purview between 2018 and the programme’s end in 2019.

This Week was built on long-running gags, and comedic references to the failures of various MPs and ex-MPs that graced its sofa. Political reporters and editors from all sorts of publications would feature in cheap comedy skits that interspersed whatever point they were making.

The programme would often end with some sort of comedy jape, such as a reference to John Bercow’s dislike of being called “Big John”, or a memorable moment where Andrew Neil and all the studio guests – barring Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, who looked on in disdain – were gyrating in an affront to dad dancing.

Comedian guests on the show, making political comment, included people like Jan Ravens, Andi Osho, Bridget Christie, Phill Jupitus, Andy Parsons, and Rob Beckett, to name a few.

Rob Burley defends this in a rather weak manner, backtracking by saying that comedians worked on This Week because of the setting and the nature of the conversation – an argument that holds no water when the new Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme is just that: new.