Renowned broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald sat down with the Sustainable Investment Festival 2022 audience to discuss what he would ask president Vladimir Putin and delves into the current state of UK politics.
McDonald made him name working at ITN - which went on to become ITV - presenting the coveted News at 10 spot.
At the close of SIF 2022 day one, McDonald spoke with host and fellow journalist, Declan Curry, and recalled some of the watershed interviews of his career, including Saddam Hussein and Nelson Mandela. McDonald was the first person to interview Mandela when he was released from prison in 1990: "There were a lot of us who wanted to do it and there was a coin toss to decide who would talk to him first, and I won," he recalled to Curry.
SIF 2022 Blog: All the news and views from day one
Indeed, McDonald has interviewed his fair share of world leaders and was asked by the SIF audience: "What would you ask Vladimir Putin if you got to interview him now?"
The notorious Russian president has been an ongoing topic of discussion since he sanctioned the illegal invasion of Ukraine. The war is now in its 135th day.
McDonald said that Putin was notoriously good at dodging difficult questions and, apparently, at bickering with the previous German chancellor Angela Merkel.
"She could speak reasonable Russian and him German and they would criss-cross each other in the two languages," he said.
Describing Putin further, McDonald said: "Here is a man who does not play by the rules. And I find it quite extraordinary... That they can so you know, control the flow of news in their own country, that there are number of Russians who do not believe that there is a military invasion in Ukraine.
"I heard one story where some Russians in Ukraine were talking to their relatives in Moscow, and the relatives in Moscow were saying to the people of Ukraine: 'why are you guys destroying your cities, and why are you guys firing missiles into your own buildings?' So they have done an absolutely wonderful job of brainwashing the people and I never thought that that was possible in the in this century."
Despite the mountains of evidence proving Putin's more totalitarian intentions regarding Ukraine, McDonald speculated that the Russian leader would still not admit, publicly, that it was more than the "special military operation".
Moving closer to home, McDonald was asked to comment on the current events in UK politics.
SIF 2022: RLAM's Mike Fox's key takeaways
The past week has been monumental for Boris Johnson and the Conservative party after the prime minister was forced to step down after more than 60 MPs resigned in protest of Johnson's backpedalling regarding the allegations his chief whip, Chris Pincher, has sexually assaulted a party member in 2019.
McDonald was asked whether he thought that Johnson was an ‘honest person' and after initially holding back - "I try not to get involved in local politics" - he conceded that he had been dishonest regarding 'partygate'.
He said: "I laughed my head off at the fact that when he went out into the garden and saw a number of bottles and sandwiches he though it must be a work event."
The one leniency McDonald granted the prime minister was the party that was thrown for his birthday.
He said he would have excused a few family or friends and that he was coming out of a meeting and handed some cake.
"I think to have a drink on his birthday is not a bad a bad thing. I think it is more difficult to explain the 20 other parties that were going on," agreeing with Curry that it was "obvious that he lied".
Bringing the questions back down to the theme of SIF, McDonald discussed diversity in the finance industry and what more needed to be done to increase it.
"I am frequently asked is this question," McDonald said, "and I think there is an almost inevitable rise of diversity.
"I know that many companies have a positive policy on this, but we live in a diverse world. It is inescapable. It is not going to change it is only going to get more so.
"And therefore there is a realisation that this is the way forward. And I am always astonished when people have to be so profoundly concerned with diversity because it is so obvious that it has to be done.
"In my little neck of the woods in broadcasting I remember when ITV brought in these more positive policies we were told we are broadcasting to all these people. And it is only fair and just that the people who are doing the broadcasting reflect this. And I think in the broadcasting world a lot of work has been done on this."
