Don Your Way column: Don't have a go at the media for asking tough questions

You’ve probably seen a post doing the rounds explicitly stating that journalists are 'missing the mood’ of the country and should be wholeheartedly throwing their weight behind Boris Johnson and his Government and not daring to holding them to account.

To do that would be a failure of what journalists are supposed to do.

Piers Morgan, who I could never be described as a fan of, recently tweeted: “Reminder to trolls abusing journalists for doing our jobs; we’re not supposed to be nice, or popular, or sycophantic – we’re supposed to be challenging, dogged and generally a massive pain in the a*se to all forms of authority.

“Othewise we’re not working properly on your behalf.”

Now, whether you are a Piers lover or not, he’s absolutely spot on. But anyone daring to raise questions is immediately blasted down like some sort of traitor.

I’ve seen the names of the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s Robert Peston dragged through the mud for daring to ask difficult questions.

The other day, Donald Trump stomped out of a press conference because he didn’t like being challenged.

When you hold high office, you have to be open and accountable to scrutiny, whether you like it or not.

Forget whether Boris Johnson has survived coronavirus or has recently become a new dad, he’s the Prime Minister of the country – the most powerful person in the land and therefore subject to interrogation of the highest order.

If he’s not up to facing tough questions, then he shouldn’t be in the job.

The same goes for any politician of any party or persusasion. It doesn’t matter which party is in charge or who the Prime Minister is, they should not be allowed an easy ride or allowed to wriggle off the hook if the heat is on.

Journalists are there to ask the questions that you can’t and get the answers you want. Don’t complain and blame when they ask them.