Cheers John...never did bother to look him up...Oxford, the BiBiC in his resume etc...should have known better.
He had his bollox on British democracy and evil dictatorships down pat though, and ready to go...almost like he knew there might be an interview with a BiBiC hack who would lead the conversation adeptly in the direction where the evil China, Russia, North Korea dictatorship propaganda could be wheeled out.
All makes sense now.