Tory leadership debate was a missed opportunity

As the remaining candidates fight it out to become PM, Raymond Snoddy evaluates the role of the media in the increasingly chaotic process

To Patrick Kidd, The Times sketch writer, Rory Stewart’s on and off tie was the big winner of the BBC Conservative leader’s television debate.

Henry Deedes of the Daily Mail wondered whether the International Development Secretary was running for Prime Minister or conducting a pilates class, such were his contortions on his interrogation stool.

The real star of the show was an unnamed Shropshire sheep farmer introduced by Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt – a farmer who sold 95 per cent of his lamb to Europe and who would be wiped out by a 40 per cent No Deal tariff.

What, Hunt asked of leadership front runner Boris Johnson would he say to such a farmer if Johnson achieved his dream of becoming Prime Minister while the farmer’s dream of running a family business was destroyed. Answer came there none.

It was a rare intrusion of reality into a noisy, chaotic and ultimately unsatisfactory “debate.”

All five candidates stuck their hands up like automata in favour of an independent inquiry into islamophobia into the Conservative party, even though such a thing has been resisted for four years.

The apparently unstoppable progress of Boris Johnson to 10 Downing Street ploughed on despite three noticeable blips on the way.

The apparently definite undertaking to leave the EU without a deal if necessary on October 31st suddenly turned into something that was “eminently feasible.”

A promise to lay himself down in front of bulldozers building a third runway at Heathrow turned into grave doubts about the project.

And the apparent promise to lift people earning up to £80,000 out of the high tax threshold turned into mere suggestions and matters for debate.

None of this will probably matter with the fans of Johnson but in a way they highlight a failed debate and a lost opportunity because of a flawed format.

TV political debates are so important because they have considerable influence on what happens next. The election leaders debate in 2010 catapulted Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg into a new level of national prominence that ultimately led to him becoming deputy Prime Minister in a coalition government.

Boris Johnson’s slick sound bite in the final referendum debate that this Thursday “could be our country’s independence day” may have boosted the Leave vote at the last minute.

The Conservative leadership debate could have held five men to account for what they have said and done and what they would do in future – had it not degenerated to them shouting at each other, talking over each other and the presenter Emily Maitlis.

Brexit is by far the most serious question facing the UK in a generation and yet not enough time was given to wrestle the issues to the ground with follow-up questions.

The environment, tax policies, cuts to social services and the consequences of words chosen and language used, are all important matters for a future Prime Minister.

Yet the outcome of Brexit and its impact will heavily affect the ability of any Prime Minister to tackle such vital economic, social and health policies.

If you wanted to deal with a range of issues then the one shot at a television examination of the candidates should have been longer.

Bringing in members of the public and their questions seems like a good idea, making for good television but it inevitably broke up the flow of the programme and allowed the politicians to hide.

What was missing was the single most important ingredient of all – detailed, sustained, forensic examination of the Brexit proposals of the five – something that Emily Maitlis is more than capable of, if she had been given the chance.

There were fact-checkers off screen but viewers had to wait for Newsnight to hear Katya Adler say that most of the proposals of the five about leaving by October 31, or re-opening the withdrawal agreement or changing the backstop on Northern Ireland were as close to impossible as makes no difference.

What if Katya Adler had not been in Brussels after the event but in the studio by the side of Emily Maitlis pointing what was possible and what was not?

The lost opportunity was so important because it is difficult to see Boris Johnson submitting himself to any other journalistic scrutiny before becoming Prime Minister when the recently enlarged Conservative party electorate get to vote next month.

Newspaper coverage of the event and the latest voting round by MPs, which led to the elimination of Dominic Raab, was rather predictable.

The Daily Telegraph has been clearly alarmed this week that their man Boris was facing an unexpectedly lively challenge from Rory Stewart.

Cue a splash that Stewart might have spent six years working for MI6 where his father had once been second in command.

Stewart didn’t punch through in the TV debate so the Telegraph was happy to frame the occasion as: “The Boris and Rory show.”

Could it be that the man the paper dubbed as “exotic” as well as being a Remainer at heart would make a straw candidate that Johnson could swat away in the final hurdle?

Possibly, but the Daily Telegraph still clearly has worries about the exotic Rory.

It would be a mistake to put Stewart into the final two “thereby engineering a run-off between two Old Etonians and setting up a bruising fight between a Leaver and a closet Remainer,” the paper argued.

The worry for the Telegraph is that although Mr Johnson will win he might be damaged in the process “hardly an auspicious start to his premiership.”

The Times clearly still harbours a hope that Johnson might yet not be a shoo-in, and possibly that “their” man, former Times journalist Michael Gove, might elbow his way through.

The Times headline read: “Tory leadership rivals raise heat on Johnson” and the report noted that Gove had been one of those who exploited Johnson’s one campaign gaffe so far – reducing taxes for those who earn what MPs earn.

“An under-par performance by Mr Johnson in last night’s television debate, in which he frequently looked uncomfortable and unassertive, will certainly have fuelled confidence among his rivals that he remains vulnerable,” The Times leader suggested.

The Sun decided the best way to cover the story was through a “Blonde Date” format complete with the star signs of the candidates.

The paper’s comment was, however, more interesting. Rory Stewart was monstered as a high tax contender who had no real plan for anything.

But Boris Johnson did not get a ringing endorsement. He neither excelled nor imploded in the debate.

According to The Sun Johnson failed to answer the key question – how to get Brexit over the line on October 31 if Parliament blocks No Deal and the EU refuses to fix the backstop.

“We’re still none the wiser,” the paper says.

Indeed – and that is why ultimately the TV debate was a missed opportunity.