“I know how I would vote in a second referendum,” I said. “Exactly the same as I did last time. If I can say that, why can’t you?” That was the second of three attempts I made to get the Prime Minister to answer the question as to how she would vote in an EU referendum if one were held now.

There we were, sitting in the LBC studio, Theresa May taking phone-calls from listeners, with me asking follow-up questions. It had gone rather well for the PM up to that point. She had dealt with her conference speech with a degree of humour and had spent almost a quarter of hour being quizzed on her Racial Disparity Audit. She came through that with flying colours.

We then moved onto Brexit and took a call from Nina, an EU National who had been living in the UK for thirty-one years but was filled with uncertainty about her future. This has been a big bone of contention, not just on my radio show, but every single one on the station. Every time we cover the issue, the phone lines light up, mainly with EU nationals expressing their concern and disbelief about what is happening and the government’s failure to reassure them. Cue Nina in Islington…

As Nina was talking, I thought to myself that this was a gold-plated opportunity for the Prime Minister to reassure everyone that their future was safe. In the end she did precisely the opposite. It’s worth repeating the exchange here. [SUGGEST PULLOUT BOX]

ID: "Can you guarantee that Nina, and all the millions of people like her, would be able to stay with all the rights that they enjoy at the moment?"

TM: "We've looked at the rights of people staying here if we get a deal..."

ID: "We're talking about their rights in a no deal."

TM: "The government across the board is doing work on that."

ID: "But why can't you just say Prime Minister? We talk about it all the time on the programme, and every time my switchboard lights up with people who’ve lived here for years, who’ve worked here, who contribute to our economy and our society. Why can you not sit down here and say of course you will be able to say under any circumstance?"

TM: "Well I'm going to get a bit technical here Iain."

ID: "If you must…"

TM: "There are certain rights that pertain to someone that is an EU citizen here in the UK by virtue of being an EU citizen. Thinks like the benefits that they're able to access in their home country and the UK. Some of those things would fall away in a no deal scenario. I want EU citizens to stay here in the UK and I want to guarantee those rights and enable those people to stay. We're not going to be throwing EU citizens who are currently here in the UK out of the UK in the future."

I then asked her about the rights of UK citizens abroad in a ‘no deal’ scenario.

ID: What about the 1.2 million British citizens in the EU. What happens to them under a ‘no deal situation? Because the EU might become very trenchant in their attitudes to them…

TM: Exactly. We don’t know what would happen to them. EU member states would have to consider what their approach would be to them…

ID: A lot of people listening to you over the last couple of minutes on this will be incredibly worried about their positions. They’re going to think ‘what happens to us?’

TM: This is one of the reasons we want to get a deal, Iain.

ID: But you’re the one who keeps talking about ‘no’ deal’.

TM: I don’t keep talking about no deal.

ID: Yes you do. You did in the Commons yesterday. You said you have teams of people working on it.

TM: We have teams of people working on every possible outcome. You would expect us to do that. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re working hard to get a really good deal.

Now I get that in a negotiation you don’t give your position away from the start. I understand that to give a blanket commitment to EU citizens might well jeopardise the position of Brits in the EU, but we are dealing with human beings here – human beings who are generally very sceptical of politicians in any case. If the Prime Minister was seeking to give reassurance, I am afraid she did exactly the opposite. The hour and twenty minutes on the show after the PM left the studio were packed with callers saying just that.

But it wasn’t that question for which the interview attracted the attention of four national newspaper front pages, the main news programmes and even ‘Have I Got News for You’ and Radio 4’s ‘News Quiz’. A week earlier I had asked the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, during an interview at the Conservative Party Conference whether, if the Referendum were held today, he’d still vote Remain. He rather surprised me by saying no, he’d vote Leave. His reasons? The continuing belligerence of the EU and the attitude of Jean Claude Juncker, and the fact that George Osborne’s dire warnings of economic collapse hadn’t come true. So, I wondered, given that she has sounded like a most enthusiastic Brexiteer whether the Prime Minister might agree with her Health Secretary. I genuinely thought she would. But she didn’t. Here we go,

ID: If there was a referendum now, would you vote Brexit, because you voted Remain in the referendum. Have you changed your mind?

TM: I don’t answer hypothetical question.

ID: It’s a pretty easy answer. I would be able to answer that. I would vote in exactly the same way.

TM: Well, I voted Remain for good reasons at the time, but circumstances move on. The important thing now is that we should all be focused on delivering Brexit and delivering the best deal. But you're asking me to say how would I vote in a vote now against a different background, a different international background, a different economic background.

ID: So you can't tell me that you would vote Leave now? Jeremy Hunt says he could change his mind. I don't quite understand why you can't, seeing you are Prime Minister leading us into Brexit?

TM: Yes, and I am the Prime Minister who’s ensuring I am going to deliver Brexit for the British people.

ID: So you can’t tell me that you would vote Leave in a referendum?

TM: Iain, I could sit here and I could say I'd still vote Remain or I'd vote Leave just to give you an answer to that question. I'm being open and honest with you. What I did last time around was I looked at everything and came to a judgement and I'd do exactly the same this time around. But we're not having another referendum and that's absolutely crucial. We are not having another referendum. We’re going to deliver on the vote of the British people and we’re going to deliver Brexit.”

Afterwards, many people said: ‘Well surely she should have been briefed’. I’d respectfully submit that as prime minister you shouldn’t need a briefing to give a coherent answer to that question. Some listeners thought I had been incredibly rude to the PM and shouldn’t have been so impertinent as to ask her that question.

One listener emailed: “Dear Sir, The last time I recall voting I understand that voting intentions remain a strictly private matter so therefore your question to the PM was totally out of order and an intrusion of privacy.
I am therefore reporting you and LBC to Ofcom.” You can’t please everyone, can you?!

The next few days turned into a bit of a whirl. All because I had asked one question that no other interviewer had apparently thought of. All good for the ego, I suppose, but a bit surreal nonetheless. The trouble is, whenever I get a big political beast into the studio people will expect a repeat performance. It’s all downhill from here then…