Election Debate 2017- Review

The 2017 election debate was somewhat cheapened by the absence of Theresa May, and the remaining parties took glee in rounding on the all-round robotic, unauthoritative and wooden Amber Rudd. Let’s look at the winners and losers of the debate:

Jeremy Corbyn

Did well. Yet another strong performance. You begin to feel the electorate are warming to Corbyn.

He made his case for opposing the Tories very well and looked confident and was passionate about the issues. He looks as if he has gained confidence and has improved as a politician and candidate since the manifesto was released. Made several good points especially about poverty and the government’s record on austerity. Addressed concerns about his leadership skills although Rudd’s point about 4 out of 5 of his MPs voting for no confidence in him will be something that would plague him throughout his premiership if he were to win.

Amber Rudd

Weak. Was repeatedly laughed at and mocked by the audience and often just repeated the same soundbites over and over. Generally her points lacked substance and she’s still clinging to the ‘coalition of chaos’ narrative, which has lost credibility since the Liberals ruled out a coalition and the other parties regardless look unlikely to win enough seats. The “magic money tree” which undoubtedly took Tory HQ hours to think of, wasn’t in the end a very effective mode of attack. It became repetitive and was moot given that Labour’s manifesto is fully costed. The “strong and stable” rhetoric has been knocked somewhat by the U-turns and ‘weak and wobbly’ as Angus Robertson described it, is apt.

Caroline Lucas

Okay, but nothing great. The key weakness of having seven parties is that the centre left parties all sound like one another and tend to repeat each other’s points and it begins to sound boring, with ‘invest in our NHS, police and social care’ beginning to become a sedative. Sounded passionate about climate change, which was to be expected, and was strong on pressing Rudd on the arms industry and our ties to Saudi Arabia, which I’ve written about in another piece. Look in the related posts for that one

Paul Nuttall

Again proved to be a less refined, less intelligent version of Nigel Farage. Farage at least was charismatic and made his points with some authority and logic, and although I strongly disagreed with him, you could appreciate why people could support him. With Nuttall I don’t have a clue why anyone supports him. He looks and sounds a fool, and doesn’t ever really provide anything to back up his points. Since linking everything to immigration became something of a meme, he’s been forced to think of other things, which he isn’t good at, as shown by this debate.

Tim Farron

Looked strong again, and made his case very well, making the case for immigration and Europe. He also was good at pressing the Tories on health and social care, and on making the point about May not showing up to defend her record, which he frequently criticised. He also was good on attacking Corbyn’s stance on Brexit, which needs to be critiqued a bit more. However he must realise hitting the Labour party is not tactically wise.

Angus Robertson

Came across as charismatic and was good on criticising Nuttall’s rhetoric on Muslims and on making the case for Europe and immigration. I’ll be quite irritated if he loses his seat to the Tories as he has been a good voice in Westminster at attacking the Tories while the Labour Party has been a bit weak at times. I’m against independence but actually I don’t mind the SNP as they’re a good progressive influence in Westminster. Labour are gone in Scotland and it’s a straight choice between the Tories and SNP, and I’ll take the SNP any day. Was a great influence on the debate and, ‘not so much the Iron Lady as the U-turn Queen’.

Leanne 'Natalie' Wood

To reiterate the point about Lucas, she often had to repeat the points of others, only with less charisma and more bland. I’ve never understood why Plaid is at the debates, as they get only around 10% of the vote in Wales itself, which is itself only 1 million people. I can see why the SNP are there as they get between 40-50% of the vote in Scotland and are the ruling party in Scotland, whereas Plaid don’t even do very well in Wales. Nonetheless, Wood did little to improve Plaid’s standing and often just seemed like an interlude.

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