“It’s like a job interview,” one lady from Nuneaton said, having asked the candidates what they had in common with Nicola Sturgeon. Not many people face a recruitment round five years ahead of the job they eventually want to do. As the questions rolled in, the impossibility of speaking on behalf of an imaginary Labour campaign in 2020 while also trying to win the leadership in 2015 became obvious. How would you control our borders? How do you fix the welfare system? How can you fund public services and make cuts at the same time? Where’s the vision?
If Ed Miliband didn’t have compelling answers six weeks ago, having worked on it for the best part of five years, the four MPs hoping to succeed him hardly stood a chance. On balance they all made a good fist of it, striking a balance between deference to a sceptical audience and assertion of classical Labour positions for the loyalists watching at home.
The differences of position between them – with the exception of Jeremy Corbyn – were slight. Liz Kendall, as the least experienced contender, put the emphasis on change. Yvette Cooper, as a former cabinet minister with few changey credentials, talked about experience. They also both thought it was time Labour was led by a woman. Andy Burnham presumably disagreed. He emphasised the value of escape from the “Westminster bubble”, into which at times they must all have wished they could retreat. It was a tough crowd. “I’m not convinced,” said more than one questioner on hearing their answers.
I wasn’t counting but got the impression that Corbyn provoked the most ripples of applause for his ardent defences of immigration and passionate denunciations of inequality.
The lesson from that is probably not that Britain wants a socialist government but that audiences respect a conviction passionately articulated. All of the candidates were at their best when overcoming the crippling self-censorship of pernickety message calibration and saying something heartfelt with urgency – Burnham on social mobility; Kendall on not trying to turn the clock back, Ukip-style; Cooper on showing respect for people on benefits.
None of them shone throughout but they all showed moments of clarity. Was Britain’s next prime minister on that platform? Until a few weeks ago Labour had convinced itself that Miliband was that person. How wrong they were. Judging by tonight’s performances it’s tempting to think almost any of these candidates would have been a better bet.
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