No one really landed any telling blows, with the whole show descending into second-rate light entertainment. Even Prince Andrew could probably have made a better fist of answering the questions. Despite talking over Corbyn and Etchingham at every opportunity – his ego can’t allow the possibility of conversation – Johnson reverted to bluster and lies while trying to steer everything back to his Brexit deal that he had rejected 18 months previously.
Corbyn couldn’t even take advantage of the most open of goals. One questioner asked about personal trust. Here was the Labour leader’s chance to ask Boris how many children he had, his relationship with Jennifer Arcuri and his broken promises to family and country. It would have been a slam-dunk moment that could have maybe changed the momentum of the election. But Corbyn blew it. The first half ended with an insincere handshake.
The rest was something of a non-event. Corbyn scored well on the NHS with a redacted document but the audience was so dispirited that the debate ended in a Blind Date chat. Corbyn would give Boris A Christmas Carol for Christmas: Johnson would give Corbyn some damson jam. No voters’ minds would be changed. The only winner was Etchingham who somehow held the shitshow together.
Yet despite all this, the debate had revealed something. That voters hold both leaders in open contempt and are in despair that one of them will end up as prime minister. Given the chance to show off their best selves, Johnson and Corbyn had merely proved they didn’t have one. The country was even more screwed than anyone had previously imagined.
