What we learned
Was the Sky News/Channel 4 grilling a game-changer? Was Theresa May “destroyed”? Did Jeremy Corbyn shock us all with this one weird trick? Nah. Check here for Andrew Sparrow’s verdict, but in short: Corbyn seemed relaxed and did better than many expected; May seemed evasive, but left with a round of applause for her EU-thumping final answer. It might have been only a repeat of her “no deal is better than a bad deal” incantation, but it meant she rounded off her appearance with clapping rather than the derisive laughter that met her responses on school funding.
So, what did we find out?
It’s not about the money … except when it is
Quizzed by an audience member on cuts to school funding, May said that wasn’t the issue:
People are focusing on funding but we need to ensure that we see more good or outstanding schools.
And “people” were getting it wrong again on police cuts, the PM insisted:
It’s not about the numbers of police; people often focus on the numbers of police.
Even though numbers don’t matter, May wanted the audience to know that Labour’s manifesto “figures don’t add up”. “It’s costed!” was the shouted reply from one audience member.
Would-be PMs can’t be expected to know everything, for Pete’s sake
Pressed on Labour’s immigration target – which doesn’t exist – Corbyn said he would not put a number on it (so far, so pragmatic). Being accountable does come with the job, however:
It would probably – but I don’t want to be held to this – come down. That’s a probability.
May had her own “how am I supposed to know this stuff, I’m only the leader of the government” moments. Asked how many pensioners (Labour suggests 10 million) would lose their winter fuel allowance:
We need not just pull out a figure in an election campaign.
And on whether she knows what that cap on social care costs will be:
It’s not about not knowing … it’s about thinking what the right approach is.
In the event of nuclear war, Corbyn would write a letter
Renewing Trident is in the Labour manifesto, despite the Labour leader’s personal misgivings. Having established that he is “not a dictator”, forcing party underlings to scrawl out a manifesto endorsing mandatory vegetarianism, Corbyn told Jeremy Paxman that he’d really rather not use nuclear weapons (apparently a wildly controversial view), but would, if necessary, “write the appropriate letters to our commanders”.
The Queen can rest easy if it’s Corbyn on the way to the palace on 9 June
Why, Paxman thundered at the republican Labour leader, is abolishing the monarchy not in the manifesto? Corbyn let us in on the secret:
Look, there is nothing in there because we are not going to do it!
No Brexit deal is better than a bad deal, but also no deal is a bad deal
May’s favourite ultimatum got another airing, but in a speech today she will warn that an unsuccessful Brexit spells doom for the NHS, public services, welfare, jobs and prosperity. Paxman asked the former remainer: “You still believe it’s a duff idea, don’t you?” May said nothing much in reply (this is an evergreen statement).
Jeremy Paxman isn’t what he was …
He did a decent job of a Jeremy Paxman impression, but the general verdict was that the badgering interruptions and “but most of all, you’ve let me down” mournful face-crumples weren’t cutting it any more.
But he did deliver the zinger of the evening, to May:
If I was sitting in Brussels and I was looking at you as the person I had to negotiate with, I’d think ‘she’s a blowhard who collapses at the first sign of gunfire’.
… and the audience were the winners
Twitter, of course, exists for these events. But after this audience member’s response to May defending government spending on the NHS, the media today will be in search of “bollocks man” (although only the Guardian will be able to do so without employing asterisks. Just part of our unique journalistic offering).
What else is happening?
Today we see the SNP manifesto, delayed for a week after the Manchester attack. The party is lounging comfortably atop the polls in Scotland, but defending 56 of 59 Westminster seats (and under pressure from a perkier Scottish Conservative party) means that even a win on 8 June is likely to come with a few losses. Nicola Sturgeon will today stress the party’s commitment to counter austerity measures, promising her MPs would vote against cuts to health spending in England – a nod to that notional progressive alliance – as well as pledging to scrap the 1% public sector pay cap, keep winter fuel payments as a universal pensioner benefit, and add a 50p top tax rate (as long as the rest of the UK joined in). Read a full rundown here.
At a glance:
- Dominic Raab accused of ‘stupid and offensive’ food bank comments.
- Ukip braces for a tough election fight, even in its heartlands.
- Tory candidate for Jo Cox seat apologises for gun joke at hustings.
- Charities say ‘gag law’ stops them speaking out on Tory social care plans.
- Listen to Monday’s Election Daily podcast; later today, Sonia Sodha joins Jonathan Freedland and Owen Jones to pick a not-a-debate winner.
Poll position
Yesterday’s Survation poll for ITV’s Good Morning Britain joined the ranks of those slicing the Tory lead over Labour: this time, to six points. The Conservatives were stuck on 43%, Labour hopped up three points to 37%, and the Lib Dems and Ukip stayed right where they were, on 8% and 4% respectively.
And in a sign that Corbyn’s comments on security might not have been the misstep painted by his opponents (including Boris Johnson, who, of course, had said the very same thing), the Survation poll found 46% thought UK military interventions overseas did increase the risk of terror attacks at home; 14% thought the opposite.
Diary
- At 10am, Jeremy Corbyn is interviewed on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour; at midday he does a Mumsnet webchat.
- At 10.30 Caroline Lucas targets the Tories and Labour over their lack of green policies in a series of events in London.
- At 2.30pm, disability minister Penny Mordaunt joins other party candidates for a hustings on disability issues in Westminster.
- Theresa May will switch the Tory campaign off and on again with a reboot speech focusing on Brexit.
- And the SNP manifesto is unveiled by Nicola Sturgeon in Perth.
Read these
First, John Crace, in the Guardian. Of course:
When Jeremy Paxman interviewed Jeremy Corbyn earlier in the evening, he had looked and behaved like a man hellbent on acting as a parody of himself. He had interrupted the Labour leader at every opportunity and turned what should have been forensic questioning into a TV turnoff. Someone had clearly had a word with him in the break and he did at least make an effort to let the Supreme Leader get a word in edgeways. Not necessarily to the viewers’ advantage as she continued to do her level best to say nothing at all.
‘You’ve basically changed your mind about everything,’ he concluded after listing all the U-turns the Maybot had made in the last few years. ‘An EU negotiator would conclude that you are a blowhard who collapses at the first sign of gunfire.’ It was Paxman’s one telling intervention of the entire evening. The Supreme Leader narrowed her eyes into a death stare at the sound of more laughter. She then just went back to saying nothing at length until she could hear the studio manager call time.
Rachel Sylvester, in the Times, says the Tory over-reliance on scare tactics is not working:
Wavering former Labour supporters, who were flirting with voting Tory for the first time, are being pushed back into the Labour fold. Voters – who actually rather like the populist policies in Mr Corbyn’s manifesto – feel insulted. The Tories are starting to look like bullies. By attempting to highlight Labour’s failings they are simply reinforcing their own flaws…
For all his left-wing views, the jam-making, courgette-growing, bearded Labour leader looks like a herbivore while the Tory one increasingly appears red in tooth and claw, not only carnivorous but cannibalistic in her mauling of her rival. There is, as she herself might say, something distinctly ‘nasty’ about the Conservative strategy.
Revelation of the day
Paul Nuttall denied he and Ukip were becoming extreme, as he told the BBC’s Andrew Neil he’d consider internment without trial for those suspected of involvement in terrorism, and would be willing personally to “pull the lever” to execute child murderers if the death penalty were reintroduced. “We’re saying things that people are thinking,” Nuttall insisted, “people” presumably including those old school friends you’ve had to mute on Facebook.
The day in a tweet
Your regular painful reminder that this is the man now in charge of Britain's entire global diplomatic operation. pic.twitter.com/nSsK1KbGEd
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 29, 2017
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