Sunak, Starmer, Swinney and Davey to face audience in BBC Question Time leaders’ special
Good evening. Tonight we are getting the BBC’s Question Time leaders’ special. It starts at 8pm and it will feature the four main party leaders. They will get half an hour each taking questions from the audience in York and they will be appearing in this order: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader; John Swinney, the SNP leader; Keir Starmer, the Labour leader; and Rishi Sunak, the Conservative leader and PM. Fiona Bruce is in the chair.
This won’t have the drama of a head-to-head debate between Sunak and Starmer. There is just one more of those to go. It is on Wednesday next week, hosted by the BBC, with Mishal Husain presenting and acting as referee.
But Question Time is still a very tough gig, and it is a programme that regularly illustrates how members of the public can often ask questions that are more challenging, more aggressive, and better informed than the ones politicians normally get from journalists. And there is a long history of politicians coming unstuck here at election time. In his London Playbook briefing for Politico this morning, Dan Bloom recalled some examples.
This show has in the past produced some of Britain’s most memorable election moments, as politicians’ rehearsed lines crumble upon impact with public anger. It’s the one where Theresa May told a nurse there was there “isn’t a magic money tree” … Ed Miliband drew gasps for saying Labour didn’t spend too much (then tripped off the stage) … David Cameron refused to say where £10bn in welfare cuts would fall … and Tony Blair, well, he duelled a pipsqueak Richard Tice.
Tonight Sunak may face particular flak over the Tory election date betting allegations. Here is our story about this.
And here are the questions Labour says he must answer about the allegations.
We are not able to open the comments tonight. I’m sorry about that. But if you want to flag something up to me for my attention, do use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly.
Key events
At the BBC event in York, Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister, is in the spin room on duty for the Tories. Asked about the Tory election date betting allegations, he said it was “absolutely wrong” if anyone placed bets using insider information, but he said an independent investigation was taking place and that should be allowed to run its course.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has arrived for the Question Time leaders’ special. He is first up, at 8pm.
The climate crisis has not featured much during the election campaign, but Chris Skidmore may shift that a bit. As Pippa Crerar reports, Skidmore, a former Tory energy minister who also conducted a net zero review for the government, has announced that he is voting Labour because he thinks Rishi Sunak has been “siding with climate deniers” to politicise the energy transition.
Here is John Swinney, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, arriving for the BBC Question Time leaders’ special in York. He is on at 8.30pm.
Sunak, Starmer, Swinney and Davey to face audience in BBC Question Time leaders’ special
Good evening. Tonight we are getting the BBC’s Question Time leaders’ special. It starts at 8pm and it will feature the four main party leaders. They will get half an hour each taking questions from the audience in York and they will be appearing in this order: Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader; John Swinney, the SNP leader; Keir Starmer, the Labour leader; and Rishi Sunak, the Conservative leader and PM. Fiona Bruce is in the chair.
This won’t have the drama of a head-to-head debate between Sunak and Starmer. There is just one more of those to go. It is on Wednesday next week, hosted by the BBC, with Mishal Husain presenting and acting as referee.
But Question Time is still a very tough gig, and it is a programme that regularly illustrates how members of the public can often ask questions that are more challenging, more aggressive, and better informed than the ones politicians normally get from journalists. And there is a long history of politicians coming unstuck here at election time. In his London Playbook briefing for Politico this morning, Dan Bloom recalled some examples.
This show has in the past produced some of Britain’s most memorable election moments, as politicians’ rehearsed lines crumble upon impact with public anger. It’s the one where Theresa May told a nurse there was there “isn’t a magic money tree” … Ed Miliband drew gasps for saying Labour didn’t spend too much (then tripped off the stage) … David Cameron refused to say where £10bn in welfare cuts would fall … and Tony Blair, well, he duelled a pipsqueak Richard Tice.
Tonight Sunak may face particular flak over the Tory election date betting allegations. Here is our story about this.
And here are the questions Labour says he must answer about the allegations.
We are not able to open the comments tonight. I’m sorry about that. But if you want to flag something up to me for my attention, do use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly.
