Scoop of the Month: When Naomi Met Chávez

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, is a bottomless pit of contradictions: socialist savior to some and dangerous dictator to others, shrewd politician and populist windbag, a former military officer and veteran of two failed coups - one as perpetrator, one as victim. Which master of forensic questioning could unravel such an enigma? Paxman? He's gone fishing. Get me Naomi Campbell!

When GQ dispatched its new star interviewer to Caracas, anything could have happened. If the earth is suddenly struck by a comet and vaporised, we can't say we didn't receive some kind of prior sign. "And the supermodel with anger issues/Shall probe the oil-rich anti-imperialist ..." It's all in Nostradamus.

In the event, things went smoothly. Naomi was deferential, and Chávez kept his answers under two hours. If one sometimes gets the impression that she didn't always understand his answers - or even her own questions - she did at least manage to tease a few Chávisms out of him. When she asked: "Is a new cold war imminent?", he replied: "The geopolitics of the world will be like the Incredible Hulk comics, where he tenses himself before the transformation." She did not ask him to elaborate, and in this case you have to think, "Well left alone."

"I didn't want to judge Chávez, or probe him for his political views," says Campbell. "I simply went to interview Hugo Chávez, the man." It is perhaps to this end that she asked him such questions as "Do you work out?" (he does) and "Who is the most stylish leader?" (Castro, he says). Once she had manoeuvred him on to the ropes, she delivered her knock-out punch: "Do you know the Spice Girls?" Was she skewering him for his tireless courtship of celebrity, or for his lack of A-list contacts, or both?

His answer was slyly evasive. "I have memories of them," he said. Then Chávez attempted to turn the tables. "Do you know Prince Charles?" he asked.

"I have met him," replied Campbell. "I knew Princess Diana." What strange, subtle game were these two tacticians playing?

"I like the prince," said Chávez. "Now he has Camilla, his new girl. She's not as attractive, is she?" Keep scanning the skies. That comet must be on its way.