Today presenter Mishal Husain

passed on the chance to audition for Question Time, as she is “really happy” in her current job.

Well, as happy as one can be with “dreadful” working hours. She told the Cheltenham crowd she wakes at 3am to host Radio 4’s early news.

“I feel sick when the alarm goes off,” she admits. “My children know to wake me in the middle of the night, it has to be an emergency. I tell them, ‘You have to think you’re not going to survive’.”