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| Corbyn gained an edge in this debate, even if he hasn’t forged an alliance | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Let me do you the giant disservice of casting your mind back to the televised election debates of 2010. Nick Clegg did brilliantly, remember: everyone agreed with Nick. He seemed so plausible and so nice, so far removed from the to and fro, the rough and tumble. This gave us two data points: one, that he didn’t get any seats from it; two, that he ended up in a coalition that made him the enemy of every value he’d espoused. I don’t want to get excited about a TV debate ever again. | Let me do you the giant disservice of casting your mind back to the televised election debates of 2010. Nick Clegg did brilliantly, remember: everyone agreed with Nick. He seemed so plausible and so nice, so far removed from the to and fro, the rough and tumble. This gave us two data points: one, that he didn’t get any seats from it; two, that he ended up in a coalition that made him the enemy of every value he’d espoused. I don’t want to get excited about a TV debate ever again. |
| So, in a spirit of non-excitement, I proffer the following. For one, it may adhere to some abstruse Ofcom formula, but including nationalist parties is a nonsense. To stand in front of a national audience and say, as Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood did, “Nobody but me will put Wales first,” invites a kind of courteous bafflement, like wandering on to a cricket pitch, saying “nobody can throw darts like I can”. The answer was only going to be, “that’s great. We love your darts. Go and play darts somewhere else, we’re in the middle of a match”. You could tease out the differences between her and Angus Robertson, but their positions were the same. | So, in a spirit of non-excitement, I proffer the following. For one, it may adhere to some abstruse Ofcom formula, but including nationalist parties is a nonsense. To stand in front of a national audience and say, as Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood did, “Nobody but me will put Wales first,” invites a kind of courteous bafflement, like wandering on to a cricket pitch, saying “nobody can throw darts like I can”. The answer was only going to be, “that’s great. We love your darts. Go and play darts somewhere else, we’re in the middle of a match”. You could tease out the differences between her and Angus Robertson, but their positions were the same. |
| That Tim Farron – acting for all the world like the unfunny warm-up act in a Billy Graham gig – was so comparatively charming said it all. Scanning this stage for charisma was like looking for water on the moon. Amber Rudd stood there, like a wide-open goal made of polyester and glasses, braced for the obvious blows: “You are not worth Theresa May’s time,” Farron addressed the audience. Don’t give her yours.” Caroline Lucas was a bit more elegant, and Jeremy Corbyn concentrated on carving out some space for himself, outside Rudd’s robotic account of what the election was about. It wasn’t flawless, and there was a bit of bickering, but it looked rather as if the progressives were cooperating. | That Tim Farron – acting for all the world like the unfunny warm-up act in a Billy Graham gig – was so comparatively charming said it all. Scanning this stage for charisma was like looking for water on the moon. Amber Rudd stood there, like a wide-open goal made of polyester and glasses, braced for the obvious blows: “You are not worth Theresa May’s time,” Farron addressed the audience. Don’t give her yours.” Caroline Lucas was a bit more elegant, and Jeremy Corbyn concentrated on carving out some space for himself, outside Rudd’s robotic account of what the election was about. It wasn’t flawless, and there was a bit of bickering, but it looked rather as if the progressives were cooperating. |
| Amber Rudd stood there, like a wide-open goal made of polyester and glasses, braced for the obvious blows | Amber Rudd stood there, like a wide-open goal made of polyester and glasses, braced for the obvious blows |
| Conservative strategy appears to be – improbably but demonstrably – to scare people with the number of days away things are. Eight days till the election. Eleven days after that before Brexit negotiations start. Twenty-nine sleeps till the next VAT period. Two hundred sunrises till Christmas. Rudd’s dark intonations fell spectacularly flat, barely a clap, not one laugh. Caroline Lucas got all the applause, like a banner ad for proportional representation, hark how much adoration I get, and how many seats that translates into. Yet Corbyn, less likeable and a lot less crowd-pleasing, got all his points across: do you want the NHS to have more money or less? Education, more money or less? Employees, more rights or less? Students, in lifetime debt or not? He kept it pretty simple and he left his naysayers – I include myself – saying, for God’s sake, whatever you think of him, what has he said that any of us would disagree with? | Conservative strategy appears to be – improbably but demonstrably – to scare people with the number of days away things are. Eight days till the election. Eleven days after that before Brexit negotiations start. Twenty-nine sleeps till the next VAT period. Two hundred sunrises till Christmas. Rudd’s dark intonations fell spectacularly flat, barely a clap, not one laugh. Caroline Lucas got all the applause, like a banner ad for proportional representation, hark how much adoration I get, and how many seats that translates into. Yet Corbyn, less likeable and a lot less crowd-pleasing, got all his points across: do you want the NHS to have more money or less? Education, more money or less? Employees, more rights or less? Students, in lifetime debt or not? He kept it pretty simple and he left his naysayers – I include myself – saying, for God’s sake, whatever you think of him, what has he said that any of us would disagree with? |
| Paul Nuttall, meanwhile, occupied the despised positions: anti-Muslims, anti-renewables, anti-immigrant. The useful thing he did was to yoke those ideas together, to give coherence to a previously amorphous set of values. What links a renewable future, freedom of movement, and universal human rights? Decency and reason, sure, but also the graphic awfulness of the people who oppose them. | Paul Nuttall, meanwhile, occupied the despised positions: anti-Muslims, anti-renewables, anti-immigrant. The useful thing he did was to yoke those ideas together, to give coherence to a previously amorphous set of values. What links a renewable future, freedom of movement, and universal human rights? Decency and reason, sure, but also the graphic awfulness of the people who oppose them. |
| Corbyn’s strengths are coming to the fore: the fact that he doesn’t change his mind very often makes him very strong in opposition to people who were hard-remain a year ago and are hard-Brexit now. The fact that he genuinely does care about the underdog, and isn’t using him (her? it?) instrumentally on a campaign trail is showing in the confidence of his demeanour. | Corbyn’s strengths are coming to the fore: the fact that he doesn’t change his mind very often makes him very strong in opposition to people who were hard-remain a year ago and are hard-Brexit now. The fact that he genuinely does care about the underdog, and isn’t using him (her? it?) instrumentally on a campaign trail is showing in the confidence of his demeanour. |
| Infuriatingly, given his reluctance to forge any formal allegiance with the Lib Dems or the Greens, he benefited massively from their outriding, Farron venting the group’s outrage at May’s absence, Lucas making the appeals to patriotic communitarianism. This left Corbyn free to move the frame on to his own vision for the country, without getting mired in the agenda as May, in absentia, had set it. | |
| Having said that I’ll never be gulled again by a TV debate triumph, I still think a disaster can leave its mark: May should never have sent someone else in to do it for her. So many open flanks – her absence, her record, her credentials, her views – were left for a progressive side to attack. Even if not always harmoniously, they make a lot more noise when they work in concert. | Having said that I’ll never be gulled again by a TV debate triumph, I still think a disaster can leave its mark: May should never have sent someone else in to do it for her. So many open flanks – her absence, her record, her credentials, her views – were left for a progressive side to attack. Even if not always harmoniously, they make a lot more noise when they work in concert. |