As the Dust Settles
So as Hague, Huhne and Wee Dougie work the spin room, TB's initial thoughts are firstly Cable was further to the left of Darling, and secondly he really needs to get over his five minutes in the limelight. Sadly with the way things are the Lib Dems are getting far too much oxygen than they deserve.
Darling was the only one that told genuine porkies about Tory policy and despite the furious spinning from Labour all day that his neck was on the line, Osborne held his own competently and calmly. For better or worse he was the only one who stuck to the question where the others were able to dodge and duck and fight back through refusing to answer.
Cable had the audience on side and TB suspects large swathes of the undecided public. Good news is this socialist snake charmer will never get near No11. It was soundbite central from the yellow team.
There were no killer blows though, no shrapnel wounds really either and for all the hype, the leadership debates better be a bit more than exciting. Nothing that happened tonight will be remembered by election day, but Labour will have to pack the Osborne's rubbish spin in. The real winner was the genial host.
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4 comments:
If there was going to be less control than the leaders debates they will end up as being nothing more than party spin, farcical in any proper grown up democracy.
Of course Osborne did not answer the doctor's question about cuts in the NHS. The Tories plan to bring in the private sector will result in real cuts to NHS hospitals which is against what everyone thinks a "ring fence" really means. Still Lansley will get hammered on that one when he debates with Burnham.
The audience whooping up Cable's anti-tory digs shows that the real leadership debates not allowing applause or noise from the audience is for the best.
There's still far too many uncomplicated souls out there who still see the Conservatives as pantomime villains, and their dim-witted cattle calling and pavlovian applause are not something I want to hear.
I missed the start of the debate, but I don't believe either Cable or Osborne mentioned something very critical to the proceedings, that no matter who anyone votes for, Alistair Darling will NOT be Chancellor after the election.
Pffft! Someone's a sore loser.