Q uestion Time has put issues of media bias back in the headlines. For Diane Abbott, a politician with extensive media experience, the show was a “horrible experience”, the worst of her many appearances on the programme. Having appeared on something like 30 episodes, that’s significant. After all, some of her early experiences were almost as eventful.

Her appearance on Question Time in July 1987 was particularly memorable. Abbott shared a panel with Liberal MP Cyril Smith and Conservative minister Michael Heseltine, with Robin Day in the chair. Then, as now, it was the discussion of opinion polls that caused uproar. The polls, Smith commented forcefully, showed that Labour was unelectable, “and one of the reasons for it,” he added, “is Diane Abbott and people like her...”