I WAS given an insight this week into the world of heavyweight political journalism and it occurred to me how different the interviewing techniques are between the Westminster press pack and those in the sporting world.

My wife works as a press officer at Salford Royal Hospital and was tasked with organising a press call for Labour leader Ed Milliband the day after his keynote speech to the party conference.

I was interested to see the outcome when I got home and sat through back-to-back interviews with ITV’s Tom Bradby, Channel 4’s Jon Snow and the BBC’s indomitable Nick Robinson.

What struck me was how tough a time Milliband was given.

His decision to hold the interviews at the hospital followed pledges to increase the number of frontline workers in the NHS.

Sadly, for the Prime Minister-elect, it was his omission of any reference to the budget deficit that dominated the questioning.

Neither reporter was about to let him forget it. Time and time again the beleaguered MP tried to change the topic of conversion and time and time again it was reverted back to his mistake.

Watching him squirm made difficult viewing the first time, but when you realise he sat in this room and one by one these guys took it in turn to treat him like a verbal punch bag, you had to feel for Ed.

This line of political questioning, which verges on playground bullying in some cases, is now regarded as the norm in Westminster.

Inquisitors like Robin Day and more recently Jeremy Paxman have set the precedent that people like Bradby, Snow and Robinson are only too happy to follow.

Of course, the nation has every right to expect our politicians to be held to task by the media.

But I must admit, I’m not sure if I would ever be too comfortable in adopting this aggressive line in questioning, and I’m certain I would not get away with it for too long in football circles.

Football managers can be fearsome creatures, especially after a bad result.

I have been left hanging by bosses who were just too angry to speak to me in the aftermath of a bad decision or after conceding a late goal.

And there have been many examples of intrepid reporters who have been given a verbal lashing simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You very quickly get the hang of reading the signs and knowing when you can push it.

In my experience, regardless of the perceived hounding football managers get in the press, they are definitely the ones in the driving seat.

So I would be very interested to see who would come out on top if, just for one day, Robinson and Paxman were let loose on Ferguson and Mourinho. Seconds out, round one!