https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-politics-live
I wonder if May will show up? She's going to look pretty arrogant if she doesn't.
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https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-politics-live
I wonder if May will show up? She's going to look pretty arrogant if she doesn't.
Think he's played a blinder here. He's faced most thing thrown at him now, can't see anything new being pulled out the bag (Scottish devolution maybe). He just needs to brush up on his numbers and he should be fine. She'll not come out looking good if she doesn't appear.
I wonder how many stayed for the second half of the debate and how many gave up after the first 20 minutes? Those who gave up would have left agreeing with May for not turning up and feeling that "coalition of chaos" is a much stronger attack than the dangers of naked Corbyn.
Those who watched the second half would have seen Corbyn grow into it, the host having a greater influence in controlling matters (did anyone notice the urge to reference Abbott's gaffe to the extent where it was unrelated to what Corbyn had said?) and would have seen Angus Robertson or Caroline Lucas compete for the "Clegg of 2010" award for smaller name making the biggest showing.
May started by saying she was strong but crumbled against a Paxman past his best, she said she was the leader to talk to the EU (the 27 voices) but was not prepared to discuss with only 6 others. You don't have to look too far outside the Tory party to see critics as George Osbourne has called the manifesto weak and ex-coalition partner Lib Dem has nailed it down when saying there is a real threat of them being given a blank cheque if you allow them to build a majority with "we'll reveal our plans after you vote for us" viewpoint.
If Corbyn is elected then it will be Keir Starmer (QC) negotiating with Europe instead of Boris Johnson; there will be a focus on supporting teachers and police rather than dismissing their concerns in favour of cuts (wasn't the roof meant to be fixed by 2015?) or projects like grammar schools which goes against all evidence; and we can leave behind a UK where the only thing we're producing is more foodbanks and more billionaires.
A masterstroke from Corbyn.
At one point it was bordering on unwatchable.
You had all other parties attacking rudd and the crowd clapping like a load of seals, frothing at the mouth.
I think it was good for corbyn to be there but really it didn't come across particularly well.
He stuttered on the migration issue. I had to turn the radio down I was cringing so much.
And the money tree thing from rudd was a load of rubbish as well.
Highlight was leanne wood showing her welshness by replying within a millisecond saying "no i avvvvvvent" to the presenter about a question.
I was watching the Daily Politics yesterday when it came through that Corbyn was going to attend and some journo from the Times I think it was, said that it was a risky strategy because he was turning something that was going to be an irrelevant sideshow into something of an event as all of the leaders took it in turns to take potshots at him.
I completely disagreed with him because, in the position Labour find themselves in, Corbyn had no option but to turn up. For all of the talk of Tory panic (campaign relaunchs and the apparent ban on strong and stable suggests they are getting themselves in a state mind) and a Corbyn/Labour surge, the Conservative vote is holding up pretty well in the polls. Labour are closing the gap because they are taking votes from the other parties and to stand a chance of being a majority Government, or even the second biggest party where no one has a majority, they need to start seeing that Tory figure of 40% plus dropping quite markedly - May's going to win, probably with a comfortable majority, unless that happens.
Admittedly I haven't really seen much of the debate, but I'm not surprised it descended into a squawk. People only remember one or two moments from these - they're hardly about discussions, mainly put-downs - and May not turning up is the big moment. It'll go down as a major error.
Her excuses after were also pretty poor. Saying that Corbyn is concentrating on television while she's concentrating on Brexit (????? who called the election?) and that she would rather take real questions from real people when everyone knows all her events are invitation only are both dreadful. The Tories are playing a very bad game.
Theresa would make a great spitting image puppet.