After days of mud-slinging on all fronts, finally the chance to hear the leaders candidates speak for themselves.
Drinks and snacks beforehand in the green room. Temperatures are rising, both real and metaphorical.
It started relatively amicably, Kemi Badenoch in sunset yellow, Rishi without a tie, Liz Truss on a pair of killer heels, Penny Mordaunt elegant and well-groomed, Tom Tugendhat gently flirtatious. The nagging question in my head: have Tom and Colin Firth ever been seen in the same room together?
Fair to say the audience was not a natural Tory audience. The first question – ‘why should the public trust you?’ – was hard and straight forward. Truss off the blocks first: she delivered what she said she would deliver, so there. Putin, Brexit, Northern Ireland Protocol, focus on the economy. Solid, if somewhat wooden.
Penny Mordaunt unequivocally distanced himself from Johnson’s government: ‘I have spoken the truth to power’
The compliments didn’t really fly, but nobody seemed to want to address the elephant in the room: that this is going to be a dirty old fight
A winner? Too early to say. But Mordaunt failed to make the splash she’d hoped for
Tom (shy smile, friendly specs) was more relaxed – and more accepting of the confidence issue. His Unique Selling Point – and he knows it – is that he has always been critical of the current government, and he was eager to take advantage of that advantage, pointing out that it is always easy to criticize your enemies, and much harder to make friends. to criticize. Do you serve the interests of the people, or your own career? Quite. Rishi, once the slick professional, was the first to address the questioner directly. The first rule of TV debates: win the public’s trust and engagement. He tried to give Boris Johnson the benefit of the doubt, he explained, but eventually confidence ran out.
On the other hand, he wouldn’t run away from the government’s achievements. In other words, I’ll have my cake and eat it. Kemi Badenoch seemed a little less confident. “We haven’t exactly covered ourselves with glory,” she said, adding that as a minister, she was not afraid to take collective responsibility for mistakes made. Penny Mordaunt unequivocally distanced himself: “I have spoken the truth against power.”
So far, so predictable. When the issue of blue-on-blue attacks between the candidates was addressed, things started to get a little more complicated. Viewers may have been a little surprised to learn that, far from loathing each other’s guts, the panel all trusted each other. Dear friends, really.
The compliments didn’t really come out of the blue, but nobody seemed to want to address the elephant in the room: that this is going to be a dirty old fight. Apart from Kemi: ‘Is Boris Johnson honest?’ asked Krishnan Guru-Murthy. “Sometimes,” she replied, to the audience’s soft laughter.
Mordaunt showed her skill as a politician by answering yes, which clearly meant no.
It soon became apparent that this was not so much an examination of the candidates’ relative merits as a punishment for the Johnson premiership’s mistakes. So much of Guru-Murthy’s fire was focused on the person who was absent here – that is, Boris.
Nevertheless, they continued. About halfway through, they began to put some soil between each other. Sunak’s delivery was slick, but his main pitch remains his track record in government – which remains problematic in the context of Partygate. Mordaunt, the bookmakers’ favorite so far, has nevertheless been defensive on the issue of trans issues. Both Truss and Badenoch challenged her to this, almost calling her a liar.
Tugendhat was the first to provoke any positive reaction from the public, receiving weak applause for his statement on the NHS, and later for being the only one to vote against the hated increase in national insurance.
This seemed to give him courage: he grew more confident as the minutes went on. In fact, if the audience had a favorite, it was him. He spoke to them like people, not voters, and sounded like a man with all the right motives.
Badenoch also made progress, despite a nasty and persistent cough. Direct and to the point, both recognizable.
In contrast, Mordaunt seemed a little defensive, as did Truss. Despite everything, Sunak was impressive. Experience counts in politics, even if it’s not always a 100 percent positive record. He certainly seemed to have the best understanding of details overall. A winner? Too early to say. But Mordaunt failed to make the splash she’d hoped for.