Winners and losers
WINNERS
AMBER RUDD: Parachuted in to that TV debate as a stand-in for Theresa May, she won brownie points for being there at all. As the only member there of the Government, she was in situation in which all the others were attacking her, and the audience, reflecting the make-up on the stage, laid into her too. Generally she is seen to have acquitted herself well in the circumstances. It emerged afterwards that she was taking part only two days after the death of her father. Some Tories watching her performance may have thought that she looked like a future Prime Minister. So it was an all-round own goal for Theresa May. An honourable mention in passing too to Justine Greening, another of Theresa May's rising number of stand-ins, when she stepped in for the Prime Minister in a Woman's Hour interview.
JEREMY CORBYN: He actually seems to be enjoying himself. He's having the time of his life, like a favourite granddad with a new toy. And far from being the liability that the Tories hoped, he can get away with virtually anything. Things which should be embarrassing, like being caught out in an interview without important facts at his fingertips, are shrugged off. This is one of the advantages of not being a political leader in the traditional mould - the normal political leaders' rulebook no longer applies.
..........
LOSERS
THERESA MAY: At the start of the campaign Mrs May was presented as such a star player for the Tories and the nation that not much more needed saying. Vote for Mrs May was the theme. Then it became vote for Mrs May and her Team. Maybe in the last few days they'll go back to Vote for the Conservatives. Star players still have to prove their worth on the pitch, and Mrs May has not delivered for her fans. When asked questions, she does not answer them. That does not make her at all unusual for a politician. But she could at least answer some.
TIM FARRON AND ANDREW NEIL: Did you see the interview? To say it was tetchy would be an understatement. For significant periods interviewer and interviewee were talking over each other. There was though some enlightenment. Tim 'I accept the referendum result' Farron indicated that the only Brexit terms that the Lib Dems would support were terms which involved Britain's continued membership of the European Union. This is because he cannot see those Brexit terms being better than what we have now (i.e. full membership of the EU).
TV ELECTION DEBATES: They were a novelty. Now they are not a novelty. And after that, there's not much left bar the shouting.





