This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/19/eu-referendum-panel-verdict-bbc-question-time-special
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| EU referendum: our panel on the BBC's Question Time special | EU referendum: our panel on the BBC's Question Time special |
| (about 17 hours later) | |
| Polly Toynbee: ‘Cameron is not popular, but the baited bear put up the best possible fight’ | Polly Toynbee: ‘Cameron is not popular, but the baited bear put up the best possible fight’ |
| In a format that put the prime minister on trial, harangued by all, without even a podium for comfort, he held his own. Politicians are often at their best with their backs to the wall. David Cameron is not popular, but the baited bear put up the best possible fight. | |
| He nailed the leavers’ three big lies: the 77 million Turks about to invade, a European army swallowing up our forces and the £350m a week that we would get back if we left. | He nailed the leavers’ three big lies: the 77 million Turks about to invade, a European army swallowing up our forces and the £350m a week that we would get back if we left. |
| His imagery was punchy – you would call in the experts to fix the brakes on your car or build a bridge, so don’t let the leavers dismiss all the weighty warnings against a Brexit. He struggled on migration – how could he not, against that wall of rage? There is a trade off: the single market versus the possibility of controlling migration from within the EU. | His imagery was punchy – you would call in the experts to fix the brakes on your car or build a bridge, so don’t let the leavers dismiss all the weighty warnings against a Brexit. He struggled on migration – how could he not, against that wall of rage? There is a trade off: the single market versus the possibility of controlling migration from within the EU. |
| Let’s remember why he is unpopular, with YouGov scoring him at -24. Cameron is to blame for unleashing this reckless referendum, but above all for the anger seething underneath it. As one questioner said, it’s his austerity that is squeezing the life out of public services more than pressure from immigrants. | Let’s remember why he is unpopular, with YouGov scoring him at -24. Cameron is to blame for unleashing this reckless referendum, but above all for the anger seething underneath it. As one questioner said, it’s his austerity that is squeezing the life out of public services more than pressure from immigrants. |
| Let’s remember that his shrunken public realm has shed one million good jobs, which have been replaced with lousy, temporary, zero hours, low paid near-slavery. | Let’s remember that his shrunken public realm has shed one million good jobs, which have been replaced with lousy, temporary, zero hours, low paid near-slavery. |
| Pollsters say it’s the C2DEs swinging the vote for out. This is their revenge for how his government has treated them and their children: selling off social housing for secure communities and cutting further education colleges for training. But this is no time for wishing justified revenge, cutting off Cameron’s nose to spite the UK’s face. | Pollsters say it’s the C2DEs swinging the vote for out. This is their revenge for how his government has treated them and their children: selling off social housing for secure communities and cutting further education colleges for training. But this is no time for wishing justified revenge, cutting off Cameron’s nose to spite the UK’s face. |
| He did his best. It wasn’t bad, but after years of denigrating the European Union, the poison can’t easily be counteracted. If only this verve had been put to work supporting Europe, instead of, until recently, being against it. | He did his best. It wasn’t bad, but after years of denigrating the European Union, the poison can’t easily be counteracted. If only this verve had been put to work supporting Europe, instead of, until recently, being against it. |
| Anne Perkins: ‘This is what a broken political system looks like’ | Anne Perkins: ‘This is what a broken political system looks like’ |
| Voters are fed up with politicians. Not fed up in the kind of healthy, sceptical way that should be the hallmark of a secure democracy: fed up in an angry, “who do you think you’re kidding?” kind of way. A way that, unless politicians start to address it now, has the potential to be dangerous. Every MP should be compelled to watch a tape of this edition of Question Time once a week. This is what a broken political system looks like. | Voters are fed up with politicians. Not fed up in the kind of healthy, sceptical way that should be the hallmark of a secure democracy: fed up in an angry, “who do you think you’re kidding?” kind of way. A way that, unless politicians start to address it now, has the potential to be dangerous. Every MP should be compelled to watch a tape of this edition of Question Time once a week. This is what a broken political system looks like. |
| The audience had about the same amount of respect for Cameron as a pack of hyenas closing in on a fatally wounded elephant. Even the questions that sounded as if they were from remain supporters were hostile, such as the woman who defended free movement by suggesting that the problem was less the rising level of immigration, rather the falling level of public spending. | The audience had about the same amount of respect for Cameron as a pack of hyenas closing in on a fatally wounded elephant. Even the questions that sounded as if they were from remain supporters were hostile, such as the woman who defended free movement by suggesting that the problem was less the rising level of immigration, rather the falling level of public spending. |
| Voters are not stupid. They can see the absurdity of politicians promising a referendum and then saying that the question only has one answer. They can also see that they have not been told the truth on Britain’s capacity to control the number of people coming in. They are angry that a promise was made on immigration when it must have been clear that it could never be kept. They can see that if the vote were one to leave, a punishment budget would simply add to the recessionary impact of the economic shock. And they can tell when their political leaders are trying to frighten them. | Voters are not stupid. They can see the absurdity of politicians promising a referendum and then saying that the question only has one answer. They can also see that they have not been told the truth on Britain’s capacity to control the number of people coming in. They are angry that a promise was made on immigration when it must have been clear that it could never be kept. They can see that if the vote were one to leave, a punishment budget would simply add to the recessionary impact of the economic shock. And they can tell when their political leaders are trying to frighten them. |
| But another lesson from what must have been one of the most painful three-quarters of an hour in Cameron’s political life is that he has probably won the argument. Whenever he could, he emphasised the risk that coming out of the EU would pose to the economy. It worked in Scotland and the way he played it on Question Time suggests that he’s confident that it is working now. | But another lesson from what must have been one of the most painful three-quarters of an hour in Cameron’s political life is that he has probably won the argument. Whenever he could, he emphasised the risk that coming out of the EU would pose to the economy. It worked in Scotland and the way he played it on Question Time suggests that he’s confident that it is working now. |
| Matthew d’Ancona: ‘Cameron spoke to the ingrained British reluctance to surrender’ | Matthew d’Ancona: ‘Cameron spoke to the ingrained British reluctance to surrender’ |
| David Cameron has long been comfortable in the town hall meetings that he has styled “Cameron direct” or, since 2010, “PM direct”. So Sunday evening’s special edition of Question Time was always likely to suit him. | David Cameron has long been comfortable in the town hall meetings that he has styled “Cameron direct” or, since 2010, “PM direct”. So Sunday evening’s special edition of Question Time was always likely to suit him. |
| In practice, the performance was his best of the campaign and suggested a growing inner confidence about his prospects on Thursday. In tone and content, this was not by any means a valedictory occasion, but an eve of battle rallying cry. There was a moment of decisive connection with the studio audience when he declared that he didn’t think that “Britain is a quitter” and that “you can’t win if you’re not in the room”. | In practice, the performance was his best of the campaign and suggested a growing inner confidence about his prospects on Thursday. In tone and content, this was not by any means a valedictory occasion, but an eve of battle rallying cry. There was a moment of decisive connection with the studio audience when he declared that he didn’t think that “Britain is a quitter” and that “you can’t win if you’re not in the room”. |
| This resonated with the punters far more than his familiar jeremiads about the economic cost of a Brexit. In throwing down the gauntlet and issuing a direct challenge – do we really want to walk away? – Cameron spoke to the ingrained British reluctance to surrender. By temperament, he is not a flamboyant rhetorician, but this riff worked better than any line that he has hitherto deployed during the campaign. | This resonated with the punters far more than his familiar jeremiads about the economic cost of a Brexit. In throwing down the gauntlet and issuing a direct challenge – do we really want to walk away? – Cameron spoke to the ingrained British reluctance to surrender. By temperament, he is not a flamboyant rhetorician, but this riff worked better than any line that he has hitherto deployed during the campaign. |
| Not surprisingly, he was on less certain ground over immigration. Having failed to meet his own target of fewer than 10,000 net migrants a year, he is always on the defensive when this issue is raised. The leave campaign has succeeded, absurdly, but effectively, in presenting immigration as a pathology that must be surgically removed from the body politic, rather than the lifeblood of the economy. But Nigel Farage’s deplorable “Breaking Point” poster last week undoubtedly overstepped the mark of decency – Cameron described it as “wrong in motivation” – just as the message that Turkey is not joining the EU any time soon is finally getting through. Leave is playing with dangerous toys and being rumbled. | Not surprisingly, he was on less certain ground over immigration. Having failed to meet his own target of fewer than 10,000 net migrants a year, he is always on the defensive when this issue is raised. The leave campaign has succeeded, absurdly, but effectively, in presenting immigration as a pathology that must be surgically removed from the body politic, rather than the lifeblood of the economy. But Nigel Farage’s deplorable “Breaking Point” poster last week undoubtedly overstepped the mark of decency – Cameron described it as “wrong in motivation” – just as the message that Turkey is not joining the EU any time soon is finally getting through. Leave is playing with dangerous toys and being rumbled. |
| None of this means that remain will win on 23 June. But any Conservative who watched this cross-examination and did not conclude that Cameron is still the party’s greatest asset, is badly in need of a long lie down. | None of this means that remain will win on 23 June. But any Conservative who watched this cross-examination and did not conclude that Cameron is still the party’s greatest asset, is badly in need of a long lie down. |