by ITV hosted another seven-way debate on Thursday night with celebrities from the seven biggest political parties across Britain – including Penny Mordaunt, Angela Rayner and Nigel Farage.
After the clash, Tim Stanley claimed the winners were Nigel Farage and Stephen Flynn, “who also provided the brightest sparks”, while Sam Ashworth-Hayes thought Angela Rayner showed some awareness of the need for big ideas to fix the NHS.
Telegraph readers were also quick to weigh in with their judgments. An exclusive poll by The Telegraph revealed that 63 per cent of 60,000 readers thought Nigel Farage came out on top, followed by Penny Mordaunt with 21 per cent of the vote.
Many noted that Mr Farage had a new spring in his step after the news broke just minutes before Reform UK took on the Conservatives in a poll for the first time.
William Tell, for example, believed that Mr Farage was leading the debate. “The rest are political pygmies compared to him,” he said.
Like many readers, PM Bosworth thought Mr Farage was “the only one who has common sense and says what we all think.”
Similarly, according to another anonymous reader, “Mr Farage is the only man who recognizes what this country and its people need. Labor wants all our money and the Tories have lost their Conservative credentials.”
SDH labeled all the leaders but Mr Farage “traitors”, pointing out that “everyone except Mr Farage has openly admitted that he wanted more and more mass migration without end.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Hawkridge praised Mr Farage’s approach, saying: “Well done Mr Farage. You dealt with the ‘bad Brexit’ attack without hesitation and dismissed the puerile ‘dog whistle’ with the contempt it deserved.”
In contrast, readers thought Penny Mordaunt had a hard time and were generally critical of Angela Rayner’s performance.
Ryan Brighton thought Mr Farage had a “field day”, but felt “bad” for Ms Mordaunt. He adds: “She is defending what she knows is indefensible. Surely it should be the Vice Principal instead of her here?”
Similarly, Ed Rust was not impressed with Ms Mordaunt but acknowledged her predicament: “How do you defend the Tories with their terrible record on everything?”
Oliver Beeching recalled: “Even the Conservatives know it’s over now. Ms. is hardly Mordaunt seriously at this point. She’s just debunking Labor she knows everyone is laughing and she doesn’t seem to care.”
Mark Boyle came in a little stronger: “Oh, Penny Mordaunt! If you keep your seat after this, it will be a miracle – a display of sheer incompetence which at one point reduced Mr Farage to genuine laughter.”
Although Nick Zealand felt that “Penny Mordaunt wasn’t allowed to respond to the many attacks on her partner, which is a shame” and, in her defence, thought she “did well”.
‘look weak’
On Angela Rayner, Richard Weeks thought she “looked weak in her grasp of policy, constantly referring back to her time in Unison when she felt on safe ground”.
Meanwhile, David McLellan insisted she was “extremely worried”. She is a cause for concern in the sense that she will be the most powerful woman in the country if you believe the polls and she has not been able to make a coherent argument.”
Many criticized Ms Rayner’s points on Labour’s policy of placing VAT on private school fees. K. Dodwell, for example, said: “They have no understanding of how the budget of these schools and the policy is pure socialist dogma based on jealousy.”
However, some readers were left impressed with the deputy Labor leader. Reader Mike Prince argued that “she was far and away the standout performer and, more importantly, she’s the only one who gets the look of working hard and truly rising above your surroundings to achieve something special in life”.
Similarly, Stephen Murphy considered her the “most impressive” and “simple” of the candidates.
‘More applause’
On the coverage of the debate, some, including an MF reader, argued that the ITV debate was “much less biased than the BBC’s”. They say: “Mr Farage managed to get more applause and even got in a few funny lines. It shows you how angry the BBC is at the moment at the left wing.”
Another anonymous reader thought that “although there was a lot of anti-Brexit clapping at one point, the audience seemed more balanced” and also pointed out that Mr Farage “got a few good responses from them even”.
Jay Park thought it was “well managed”, adding: “ITV definitely showed the BBC how to run a debate show (again).
However, others criticized the format. Richard Lindsay deemed it “a mess” and “meaningless”.
Whereas, Phillip Mason lamented: “How sad that British politics today has been reduced to the level of a second-rate TV show.”
James Connolly also didn’t think the format of the debate worked and was about the involvement of “Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Greens”, asking: “Are we really interested in their war policies?”
Mr Connolly was not alone in his views, with other readers deeming his participation “irrelevant”. Gillian Gill said: “They are not on my ballot paper.”
