Andrew Marr says he was right to quiz Brown over pill-taking

BBC interviewer Andrew Marr refused to apologise today for asking the Prime Minister if he was on anti-depressants.

But today he defied critics by saying the questions were appropriate.

"It was a tough question and I clearly thought carefully before asking it," he said. "I decided it was a fair question to ask or I wouldn't have asked it."

He said it was entirely his decision to ask Mr Brown about his health and nobody had lodged a formal complaint.

"Nobody in No 10 or in the government have contacted me about this at all. I have had no contact from anybody, probably to their credit," he told the mediaguardian website. "I certainly don't have any intention of this rumbling on or pursuing it. I have no particular reason to think it is going to go on and on. That is for others."

Earlier, Neil Kinnock led an all-out Labour attack on the BBC, saying Marr had "cheapened" the corporation by asking Gordon Brown the questions about his health.

Lord Kinnock spoke of his fury at the inteviewer's "poking and prying" questions. He told Channel 5 News: "I abominate them. The BBC is one of the greatest institutions in the world. They demeaned themselves, they cheapened themselves and the judgment of the journalist who asked the question has to be questioned."

Tory MP Nadine Dorries also criticised the BBC and warned Marr not to "overstep the mark" with similarly personal questions when he interviews David Cameron this weekend.

But the Standard has learned Marr is prepared to ask the Conservative leader about his past drug use.

Marr has been cold-shouldered by several ministers since the interview and some BBC sources fear that Mr Brown will now refuse ever to be interviewed by him again.

The Prime Minister was visibly unsettled ­yesterday when asked by Marr in his BBC1 interview: "A lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through. Are you one of them?"