David Dimbleby's successor on Question Time

Agreed - Kirsty is one of the very best journalists and presenters around today, and is the chair that the programme deserves, if they have any sense. Thank god Jeremy Vine has signed up to take over from the Matthew Wright show, otherwise I suspect he would have been the lead option, given he is for almost everything these days! Kirsty Wark is probably the other leading candidate - again, a monumentally talented journalist and presenter. I'd guess it's time for a female presenter though - sure it's 'PC', but there are a plethora of talented women, who could easily do this job.

I just hope whoever she is, she's ready to chuck unruly audience members out, as Dimbleby once did, or able to control insane panel members with firm rebukes! It really is the end of a (very) long era though - there's been a Dimbleby on the telly since TV started! I'm guessing this also means he won't be anchoring election nights - at nearly 80(!), those long, long nights are a bit much - they're a bit much for me and I'm decades younger! He retired from that once before, and got persuaded back. He might not be persuaded any longer - especially if no snap elections are called before the next scheduled general election in 2022.

I wonder if a New Year's honour will be on the cards now? The Dimbleby's were a bit out of favour with the royals, after Jonathan's book about Prince Charles, but there aren't many others to whom the reason 'services to broadcasting' are more deserving. He might also feel he can accept once retired, given I suspect he's adhered to a pretty strict, self-imposed sense of journalistic impartiality.

Doubt it!!  

Kirsty Wark. Maybe Zeinab Badawi.

Would Robert Preston come back from ITV ?

I do like Chris Mason but unsure if if he is established enough

I would also like to show support for Kirsty Young, but only once she's proved her mettle by persuading Kate Bush to come on Desert Island Discs. If she can sort that, she can sort anyone and anything...

I'd be happy if they just ditched Question Time altogether!

He would be unsuitable for QT anyway given his performance on his own shambolic and lamentably bad TV political discussion show on ITV (2015) where he involved the audience - it was like Jeremy Kyle without the DNA tests.

For a completely left field option, how about the Chuckle Brothers?! I would love to see them discuss the key political issues of the week. Though I do agree with crowblack in that there is no need for the same chair week in week out. It works well on Have I Got News For You having a different presenter each week and I don't see why a similar format shouldn't work on QT.

I think Alan Carr or Keith Lemon would give it the necessary gravitas.

If we've devolved to a level where openly questioning government policy and expecting people to dissect and defend their arguments constitutes "extremism", we are in deep, deep trouble.

That said, O'Brien wouldn't be my candidate of choice either, for reasons that have nothing to do with his political views on any subject.

Only one person for the job and that is Andrew Neil.

He wont get it of course as the job will go to a woman. How about Diane Abbott?

I’d make it a round table debate with no more than a dozen members of the public. Only one issue per week with people on both sides with experience of, or professed interest in, that issue. This stops people trying to answer things they don’t know enough about and you won’t get the ‘playing to the gallery’ slanging matches and sloganeering that the politicians and audience engage in.

I’d also allow longer from filming to broadcast so that any false statements can be highlighted and challenged.

And no journalists answering questions.....

Being anti-Brexit prior to the referendum plainly isn’t extremist. Wishing to overturn the vote and remain in the EU anyway via a second referendum, as O’Brien does, plainly is extremist as it represents only the views of the small percentage of voters who didn’t vote Labour or Conservative at the last election both of whom made it clear in their manifestos they accepted the vote.