7 things we learned from tonight's BBC Question Time Election Special
- The format was more enlightening than Tuesday’s ITV debate. Head to head setups undoubtedly have the potential to be more exciting, but they also allow leaders to deflect audience questions by jibing at each other. There was none of that tonight. Fiona Bruce and the audience created an effective double act and managed to put the party leaders in some tricky situations.
- Jo Swinson is trying to make fiscal prudence a selling point. Tonight’s debate saw both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn emphasise their spending promises. The former in his commitment to build more homes and hospitals, the latter in his flagship policy of free broadband. The Lib Dems struck a decisively more reserved tone, making the case for limited spending increases.
- Jeremy Corbyn is now clear about being ‘neutral’ in a second Brexit referendum. It’s something he’s now alluded to for a while but was tonight it was stated unequivocally. How this would actually play it if he was in office remains to be seen.
- Nicola Sturgeon gave her clearest indication yet on how the SNP will behave in the next parliament. She was unequivocal in her rejection of supporting a Tory administration, but claimed she would support a minority Labour government so long as it made some platitudes to the Scottish Nationalists.
- Boris Johnson’s journalistic record continues to feature heavily. The Prime Minister did a good job of giving answers to questions that were long and passionate enough to diffuse audience tension. However, comments made about minority groups during his time as editor of The Spectator dominated much of his time in the spotlight.
- Politics is really weird. Sitting in the spin room must have been one of the most surreal experiences of my life so far, not least because so much of the spinning seemed completely performative. Journalists and politicians from all political persuasions chit- chatted with each other convivially off camera before trading barbs on screen. If you thought the overly slow speaking and excessive hand gesturing was odd on the TV then trust me; its unsettling in real life.
- Nobody thinks I’m a real journalist. No matter how proudly I flashed my bright orange wristband at the various security people stationed throughout the SU building, I was inevitably scoffed at and told to go away. To be fair, the fact most pundits were wearing suits and I was casually sporting white trainer and a fleece probably didn’t help matters.
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