‘ITV election debate was not a win for hyperactive, hectoring Rishi Sunak’

Despite being the incumbent – the literal Prime Minister – it was Rishi Sunak who had the most to lose going into last night’s debate, with a new MRP suggesting the Tories could win just 71 seats ringing in his ears. Sunak is also, of the two major party leaders, the more variable performer: Starmer can appear wooden, but his PMQs appearances have improved over time, and while he rarely hits it out of the park, he rarely flounders either.

Sunak, meanwhile, can often come across as an unattractive combination of hyperactive and patronising. While not the worst performance he could have mustered, this was the range Sunak fell into in the first debate of the campaign, interrupting and hectoring, coming across as ill-tempered and impatient.

The format meant viewers came away with little policy detail

The debate presented the leaders with questions from members of the public – on the cost-of-living crisis, the NHS, leadership on the world stage, immigration and other issues – with a short 45-second time limit on answers. The strict time limit and not always effective moderating made for largely unsatisfying watching, heightening Sunak’s tendency to snapping and interruption, and didn’t do much for Starmer’s more careful delivery either.

READ MORE: ITV election debate: Re-read updates and analysis on Starmer v Sunak as it happened

It’s also a format that’s basically anti-substance, where, despite both men supposedly wanting to talk about their policy offers for the country, the viewer came away with very little policy information beyond the odd line here or there (Starmer’s promise to hire more teachers; Sunak saying that if he’s forced to choose between “our country’s security” and “membership of a foreign court”, he’d pick the former and take the country out of the ECHR).

What you’re left with, then, is a series of attack lines and an overall impression. Starmer brought up Liz Truss over and over, and fairly effectively accused the Prime Minister of being ashamed of the Conservative record in government.

He had for my money his moment of the evening mocking Rishi Sunak’s national service plans – dubbing it a “teenage Dad’s Army”, calling it “desperate” and asking why, if it was such a great idea, the Tories had made no moves to do it in the last 14 years. A wounded looking Sunak countered that “all he can do is sneer”, in the manner of someone about to take their toys and go home in a huff.

Overall, this debate won’t move the dial very much

Sunak, for his part, hit Starmer on tax – touting a fake £2,000 tax increase from Labour policies cooked up by Tory SpAds, which Pat McFadden has now dubbed “categorically untrue”– and on uncertainty, making a keep-ahold-of-nurse argument about Labour being a shot in the dark. 

Overall, this debate won’t move the dial very much; a post-match YouGov poll had it figured as roughly a draw (although digging down, the numbers look more favourable to Starmer on individual categories such as likeability and trustworthiness than the headline suggests), which will be easy enough to spin as a win for Sunak, the underdog going in. Ultimately, however, it’s not a win, or at least, not one with any real significance. 

People might not have been especially convinced by Starmer, but he put in a respectable performance, much as we’ve come to expect from him. Sunak, uncharming though he was, didn’t totally bomb, but he did nothing that will narrow the gaping polls. Although, in his defence, even a truly magnificent performance couldn’t have done that.

Read more of our 2024 general election coverage here.

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