Newsnight mayoral debate: A wasted hour

Well there’s an hour of my life I won’t get back.

Tonight’s Newsnight debate was billed as a proper grilling for all of the candidates, but it was anything but. It was a circus. A shouting match. All of the things that turn people off politics.

At first it looked like Paxman was going to play his old games and make the whole night about him. And yet even he, the great attention seeker of late night news, ran out of steam alarmingly early in proceedings.

Before long he wasn’t moderating at all, just leaning on his podium with the jowly expression of the Churchill insurance dog. But without the smile.

As for the candidates themselves, it’s hard to believe that any of the campaigns will be happy after that. Ken appeared to say that the riots might have been avoided if he was mayor (he may be right but it’s not a theory I’d like to test on the doorstep). Boris was all bluster and didn’t manage to answer a question all night (and the look on his face as he agreed to publish his earnings suggested that he, rather than Ken, may have the most interesting returns). Brian Paddick flip flopped about unconvincingly, outraged by everything. And Jenny Jones may have left with most credit from proceedings, having sat down dejectedly half way through when it became clear she wasn’t going to get a look in.

All in all a bit of a waste of time. And an hour that won’t have changed any minds, but will only have served to reinforce the prejudices of those watching. Newsnight have learned nothing from the debacle that was the Labour leadership debate.

Tonight made PMQs look informative and civilised. A rare achievement indeed…