John Humphrys ends Today career with swipe at Corbyn and Johnson

John Humphrys has bowed out as a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme with a swipe at both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn for refusing to be interviewed on the show.

In his final programme after a 32-year stint presenting Today, Humphrys complained that top politicians were now shying away from tough scrutiny by broadcasters.

Introducing Tony Blair, one of two former prime ministers to appear on his Today programme finale on Thursday, he said: “Jeremy Corbyn has not been interviewed on this programme for nearly three years. Boris Johnson hasn’t done a single interview with us since he became prime minister.”

Related: John Humphrys' highs and lows as he prepares to exit Today

He added: “Increasingly, politicians are talking directly to the people via social media so they can choose the questions they answer without being challenged.”

His remarks came after one of Johnson’s advisers dismissed the Today programme as a “total waste of time”. No 10 has sought to bypass the conventional media in favour of handpicked questions on Facebook.

Humphrys asked Blair whether interviews on Today still mattered. “The Today interview should matter,” Blair said.

Humphrys then asked: “When somebody like Boris Johnson refuses to appear on this programme, either during the leadership campaign or at any time since he became prime minister, what do you make of that?”

Blair said: “When I first began as a politician, your ambition was to get on the Today programme. It probably means that he is anxious about a sustained and forensic analysis of what he’s trying to do.”

Both Blair and David Cameron paid tribute to Humphrys while acknowledging their irritation with his combative interviewing style.

Cameron said: “Thank you for 32 years of striking the fear into politicians like me every morning and asking us questions that we don’t always want to answer. Calling us to account is an amazing record. [Walter] Bagehot talked about the dignified and the efficient parts of the constitution. He didn’t tell us about the painful but necessary parts. I guess that’s where you come in.”

Blair said: “Despite all the tussles we’ve had over the years, I respect the fact that you’re good at your job, and you’re on top of the facts. And the fact that I worry about doing an interview with you is a tribute to you, not a criticism. But sometimes interviewers can be too aggressive.”

Much of Thursday’s programme was devoted to Humphrys and his long career at the BBC.

Related: The 'paradox' of John Humphrys: rottweiler, dinosaur or shy walker?

It included archive clips, a Humphrys-themed puzzle, and much leaving banter with presenters and guests. Even the programme’s religious slot, Thought for the Day, which Humphrys once described as “deeply boring”, was turned over to the veteran broadcaster with a send-off from the UK’s former chief rabbi Lord Sacks. He described Humphrys as “one of the best of our times” and added: “British breakfasts will never be the same.”

(October 28, 1957) 

The first edition of Today is broadcast as two 20-minute programmes slotted around existing news and religious programming on the BBC's Home Service.

(January 2, 1970) 

Over the years the programme gradually develops into a more familiar format - a couple of hours long, with a co-presenting team.

(May 10, 1977) 

The BBC launches a new Radio 4 morning show Up To The Hour. Today is reduced to two 25 minute slots during the morning. It lasts just over a year before Today sees off the up-start and is restored to its former length.

(January 1, 1987) 

A Saturday edition is added to the show.

(March 18, 1987) 

A notoriously tense exchange takes place between presenter Brian Redhead and then Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson. Lawson accuses Redhead on air of being "a supporter of the Labour Party all your life, Brian". Redhead responds with “Do you think we should have a one-minute silence now in this interview, one for you to apologise for daring to suggest that you know how I vote, and secondly perhaps in memory of monetarism which you have now discarded.”

(December 1, 1993) 

Redhead leaves the show due to ill-health, having been a regular part of the team since 1975, forming an enduring presenting partnership with John Timpson.

(January 10, 1994) 

James Naughtie joins the line-up of presenters. He continues on the show until 2015.

(May 29, 2003) 

Andrew Gilligan's claims on the show that the government "sexed up" a dossier about Iraq's weapons capability ultimately leads to the Hutton Inquiry, and the resignation of the BBC's chairman Gavyn Davies and director-general Greg Dyke.

(December 24, 2010) 

Pope Benedict XVI records a 'Christmas message especially for the UK', broadcast as Thought for the Day.

(January 1, 2017) 

Former London Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands is named as the replacement for Jamie Angus at the helm of the flagship news and current affairs programme.

(December 27, 2017) 

Prince Harry guest edits, including interviews with Barack Obama and his father, Prince Charles.

(September 19, 2019) 

John Humprhys hosts his final show after 32 years.

The programme also included a guest appearance out of retirement from Dame Edna Everage. The alter ego of Barry Humphries performed a risque poem in honour of Humphrys, which included these lines: “The Queen told me before you grow much older, her sword will descend upon the Humphrys shoulder. Her voice is quiet. It doesn’t really carry. She might have said John but she probably meant Barry.”

The BBC’s director general, Tony Hall, also came into the Today studio to be interviewed. He thanked Humphrys on “behalf of all of us: the people who have loved working with you, the people who have put up with you at times too”.

He added: “In all the stuff you read in the papers about the ‘rottweiler Humphrys’, you are also someone who handles interviewees who have been through traumas … with amazing sensitivity.”

Politicians from all sides paid tribute to Humphrys on Twitter.

In a final send-off at the end of the programme Humphrys thanked the BBC.

He said: “There’s a lot wrong with it as an organisation and it is facing massive challenges from social media and changing behaviour, but I believe we need the BBC as much now as we ever have done. I simply cannot imagine this country without it.”

He also came close to choking up as he thanked listeners, saying: “You really are the backbone of our country. You care about our democracy. I am more proud than I can say that you have put up with me for so long.

“Today matters for tomorrow. And if that’s a rather corny way to end my years on the programme well so be it. And that’s it from me.”

Fellow presenters past and present then applauded Humphrys as he hung up his headphones.