"Have you met… this well-known person or that?" One of the great privileges of my work is that I can often answer "yes".

The Queen, Nelson Mandela, Mark Zuckerberg, Debbie Harry - I've talked to them all, and hundreds more who could loosely be termed celebrities.

Perhaps more importantly in the course of our interactions, I've noticed how they behave behind the scenes and how they treat the people who often amount to being "underlings" or "staff", as Prince Andrew put it in his recent fateful interview.

After 36 years covering Westminster I know British politicians best. As we head into a general election I thought I might use this week's and next week's Sky Views to tell you how I've been struck over the decades by Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, the two men vying to be our next prime minister, starting this weekend with the Labour leader.


He can be obsessive - even a bit of a bore on some subjects. He is interested in photographing man-hole covers, cultivating his allotment and jam-making which many would not regard as the most scintillating hobbies.

I do this simply as a matter of interest and not to express any preference. There are contrasts between Bozza and Jezza which potential voters might find informative. But - sorry to disappoint at the outset - in my experience both of them have been perfectly decent and almost likeable. It's the politicians who don't quite make it to the very top who tend to be most unpleasant and self-important.

There have been many more chances for everyone to observe Corbyn and Johnson since they became potential prime ministers. Most of my direct personal interactions with them took place "before they were famous".

Party leaders these days surround themselves with a permanent protective layer of advisers determined to prevent them saying or doing anything truly revealing.

Corbyn has been an MP since 1983 and a doggedly loyal servant to his inner London constituency of Islington North for all that time.

He's always been hard to miss. In the early days his beard, open-neck, and safari suits made him a stand-out in a sea of grey. Those who say he's never changed should at least give him credit for being "smartened up" into a suit and tie since becoming leader.

His opinions haven't wavered since he was a teenager. Corbyn believes unshakably that British society is rotten because of poverty and inequality at home.

He also thinks that Britain should be held to account for its imperial past as a colonial oppressor and for its present special relationship with the United States of America.

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He knows by heart the words of the "red flag" or "bandera rosa" in English and Spanish and sings it lustily. He struggled with "God Save the Queen" at a St Paul's Cathedral ceremony.

I sometimes joke that I have turned down more chances to interview Corbyn than any other politician. After school he started out as a reporter for the Newport and Drayton Advertiser. He learnt early to seek out media coverage.

The problem was that it was difficult to use Corbyn as a spokesman for the Labour Party until he became leader in 2015.

Before then he was rated the most rebellious Labour MP who voted against the party whip hundreds, if not thousands, of times. He opposed party policy on many issues including membership of the EU and the Iraq invasion.

Under Kinnock, Smith, Blair or Brown, Labour would be in a tight spot and spin doctors would order MPs to clam up. We'd desperately try to get someone on camera to defend the party and be turned down repeatedly.

Then late in the afternoon someone hitting the phones in the newsroom would say: "We've got Corbyn."

We'd look at each other, shake our heads and say: "No." Not because his opinions weren't valid, but because we knew they wouldn't represent the party. His comments would just join the pile of quotes we already had from Labour's opponents.

On some issues, notably Northern Ireland and the Middle East, Corbyn held strong, sometimes provocative, views in opposition to the official party line. These were newsworthy and we reported them. Corbyn was always willing to discuss his views at length on or off camera.

He can be obsessive - even a bit of a bore on some subjects. He is interested in photographing man-hole covers, cultivating his allotment and jam-making which many would not regard as the most scintillating hobbies.

He is self-aware and knows he can be intense. At Labour's manifesto launch he apologised to colleagues for boring them about local history as they travelled around on the campaign trail.

Corbyn was an aide to the late Tony Benn and remains his disciple. Like Benn, he says he prefers talking about issues rather than personalities - and he sticks to that rule rather more closely than his mentor.

He rarely launches personal attacks and tends to speak softly, describing himself as "polite". He hasn't forgotten that he was a journalist once and defends the right of reporters to do their job - even if he is not always accessible to them. At the recent manifesto launch he intervened to stop the crowd of supporters barracking questions from the media.

After I chaired a televised Labour leadership husting, Corbyn was the only candidate who looked for me to thank me. "That was good," he said. "You let me get my points across."

Next week Boris Johnson.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously on Sky Views: Ian King - Trouble is brewing in the global economy - yet the UK is looking inwards